#3 Has fallen Out

Yesterday Alaina's 3rd tooth fell out!  There is something that is cute about little children and their missing teeth.  

Now we can teach Alaina the song "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth"!  

Teeth falling out also says my baby is growing up and it makes me think of things like, "Will she need braces?"  Is sticking your tongue where your missing tooth is really gonna make them come out crooked? Or is it just an old wives tale?  Who knows, but it makes me smile to see that big smile with the missing teeth.  

The day after her tooth fell out, I asked Alaina about how it happened cause the day it happened was super busy and I had not heard the story yet.  Then it dawned on me...OH NO!  The Tooth Fairy?  Did the Tooth Fairy come?  It turns out she is saving her tooth to show a friend and then submit the evidence to the Fairy.  OK? I then told Alaina you know there is an expiration on the tooth, that if you don't put it under the pillow it might expire (I love teasing my children!)  Then I thought about it some more due to how tight the beginning of the month is and I said, "better yet  I think you may have until the 16th (shhhh...the day I get paid) so you have until then"  It was fun for me, it's not like the fairy brings her $20 but never miss an opportunity to teach a child about deadlines and expiration, it comes in handy when they have to pay bills!  LOL!

A Christmas Video from the Flores Family

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Clarissa is 6 months!

Today Clarissa Joy is six months and like you may expect, it is hard to see where the time has gone.

Last week we finally took Clarissa to get her ears pierced which resulted in a renewal of the other two girls wanting to wear their earrings too. Many thought we got them all pierced at the same time since they all had earrings on. It's hard enough to do one!

Clarissa has yet to roll over, but there isn't a big rush on that, but she has started to eat rice cereal, but she doesn't understand why we would change things on her now. I posted a Youtube video of it if you like to see the cuteness in action.

As with each monthly shot of Clarissa, I also take a shot at where her sisters are at. It turns out that Ariana is wearing her appropriate titled shirt "Sweet And Mischievous" and Alaina sporting her new look of missing two teeth with the third one about to fall any day now!

Pet Owners

Okay guys, so we got Guinea Pigs.  Although we have learned that since they are not Bovines, they are in fact part of the Rodent family, they are not pigs at all.  The correct terminology is Cavy (long A).  Well we've had them for two weeks now, and they make the cutest little chittering noises.  We have two females named Chai and Latte.  I haven't find a bedding I like...wood chips aren't very good, the recycled paper product is good but they can really throw it far!  Right now I have diapers down.  Yes really, cloth diapers.  I find I am changing bedding nearly every day anyway.  They are messy!  Although they love pomegranates, it doesn't agree with them.  Stick to lettuce; they love it and eat far more of it than I do.  Perhaps that is due to overzealous daughters that delight in them.  I have to watch or theymight get fat.  I'm not sure I would be able to tell!   Although they are babies now, they are built like sausages with legs. Right now they are the size of my hand, but grown they'll be the size of Chris' shoes.  

Ariana's goal in life is to scare them.  Every time she walks by the cage she says "ROAR" and delights in watching them scamper away to hide.  They perhaps do not realize this is a threat, though, because sometimes it takes as many as three "ROARS" before they decide to scamper away.  Oh yes, a three year old on a power trip.  Alaina loves to watch them.  They are not perhaps the most athletic creatures though.  When sent to "run" out of the cage, they tend to hover behind the toilet or under the shower curtain.   And I swear they produce droppings about every fifteen minutes.  It is amazing.  My life seems to be about poo anyway, so what's a bit more?

They are really fun though.

Clarissa is 5 months!

Clarissa Joy is such a sweet and happy baby! It is very hard to get her to smile at a camera since behind the camera is what she really wants to see. But after a very good effort from all us, we got her to smile, and at the same time we learned she can sit up! Clarissa has not had any seizure like symptoms since the end of August, but we still kept her appointment with the neurologist. She had an EEG which came back normal, her head measurement continue to increase, which is another very good sign that the symptoms were not very serious. We were suggested to skip a certain shot infants get until the neurologist clears her to have it. Naming her Clarissa Joy was perfect, she smiles alot, and is now talking alot, so she'll fit right in our family just fine.

Clarissa is 3 Months

I think we intended to post at least monthly, but looks like we missed a few. We've had a busy summer. Today Clarissa is 3 months...she is sleeping through the night (at 6 weeks) and she seems to really like to smile, she's a happy baby.

Within the next month we plan to pierce her ears like we did with Alaina and Ariana. I decided to take pictures of them on Clarissa's 3 month mark to show you they are growing just as fast.

Ariana is so funny! I really think she is our comedian. Last night I tickled her for 5 mins straight. I love to hear when they call me daddy, that is the sweetest sound in the world.

Alaina started first grade today, she is still being homeschooled and is very excited that she is learning how to read!

Alaina lost her first tooth!

And Alaina didn't even know it! Mommy and Alaina were taking a nap, and Beth woke up and noticed the missing tooth! The theory is she may have lost in while helping Grandma make a Marionberry pie. So what do you do when you don't have a tooth to give to the tooth fairy? Well you write a letter explaining to said fairy in hopes the fairy will come through for your 6 year old! Well the fairy was generous enough to leave $2 in coins! Im sure it was low because of gas prices LOL!

Veronica Visits

Chris' Sister Veronica came up to visit us in Oregon for a whole week! What happened to the time? We dragged her everywhere, to the Colombia River Gorge, Multnomah Falls, Crown Point, Lincoln City, Fort Vancouver in WA, Renewal at Southwest Church of Christ, and of course to our Sherwood Community c of c meeting. She even helped us celebrate Alaina's six year old birthday before she went back. She brought her daughter Naomi who's five months old. Alaina could make Naomi laugh like crazy, and Ariana was thrilled to have a baby smile back at her. Even Clarissa had someone new to stare at!

Homecoming!

(*For those who get these blogs via email, a video was posted and you will have to visit http://www.floresblog.com/ to view it*)

Monday was a pretty tiring day mainly because all the adrenaline had subsided and not to mention sporadic power naps throughout the day. We were so thankful for all the wonderful visitors we had. It was also a great blessing for the many prayers we had too. Beth rested most of the day, while I spent time with the girls at Grandma's. Alaina and her troop (American Heritage Girls) sang two songs for a Memorial Day ceremony. She did very well. After lunch and naps, we decided to go get mommy some flowers and Clarissa a new outfit. Mommy loved the surprise! We also decided to let Ariana to hold her baby sister, she did very well and now wants to hold her all the time. It is now a reward for after naps (at least for today). Today was Homecoming Day and Alaina woke me up excited and kept asking me when we were going to go get Mommy and Clarissa...they are just over excited about it all. Below is a video of them dressing their new baby sister...it would have been longer but I ran out of space on the card...oh well! I took off a week from work to do my best to help around and to help the girls get use to new rules and new joys. It has been good so far. To enjoy the video, hit the play button!

God Bless, The Flores Family

Sisters meet Clarissa Joy!

Happy Memorial Day! What a day of excitement yesterday was! The most excitement was introducing the girls to their new baby sister. Alaina of course is very happy, and has had many opportunities to hold her, and is doing a great job doing so. Ariana, not really sure she gets that this little "baby doll" will be coming home and has taken her spot of being the "baby". Only time will tell on how she will deal with this...we'll help her along! She is very curious and is trying to climb on everthing here in the hospital to try to get a peek at her sister, just gotta keep an eye on her...Clarissa gets a thumbs up from the girls! The most exciting part of meeting Clarissa was being able to help with the baby's first bath. We had many visitors, many were church family, very close friends, & very excited grandparents.

Beth has decided to take advantage of another night of 24 hour assistance from the nurses, and the opportunity to be with just Clarissa, so looks like we will be taking Clarissa home tomorrow. We will take some sort of family picture tomorrow before we leave...until then God Bless You All

Welcome Clarissa Joy! (2 wks early!)

Our beautiful 3rd girl has been welcomed into our family at 3:39 a.m PST today! She weighed exactly what Ariana (our 2nd) did. 7 lbs. 12 ozs. Her length is 20" long. Like the first two girls, it went very quickly. We had several signs that the birth was impending, but research was saying anytime from a few hours to two weeks, but Beth and I just knew the day was here! I decided to go to bed around midnight and then at 1:30am Beth hollared out that her water broke, I got up quick, trying to figure out what to do next, called Cathy Blackwell to come watch our girls, grabbed our bags and headed to Providence which is only a couple of miles away. We arrived at the hospital at 2 am, and they checked Beth and she was 5cm dilated and almost 100% effaced. We informed everyone at the hospital that this happens quickly and fortunatly the guy who gives the epidural was just finishing up with another person who had just had her baby. We lucked out and got the epidural in time. We think she is so beautiful and are very excited to have Alaina and Ariana meet their new baby sister. We are excited for you all to meet her too if you are close by. We are in Birthing Suite 258 at Newberg Providence Medical Center. It is recommended that we hav no visitors between the hours of 2pm - 4pm. Of course the hospital is very secure, so remember to cooperate and mention you are visiting "Elizabeth Flores". Thanks for your prayers & support.

God Bless,

The Flores Family

Shall we allow her to keep pushing mommy's button?

This morning Ariana and I were trying to decide on a movie to watch. I put "A Snoodle's Tale" on, and Ariana says, "I like this movie, but I would prefer 'Pirate Adventure'." I turned to Alaina(sitting next to me) and asked her what she heard her sister say. She had heard exactly the same thing. I'm not exactly used to my two-and-a-half year old using such complex sentences. About an hour later as we're getting dressed for church, Ariana comes up to me and asks, "Mommy can I push your buttons?" She asked me three times before I figured out that she wanted to push the button on my watch to see the face of the watch light up green (a mother's day present). Raising children always has some suprises!

37 Weeks = Full Term

Any day now the Flores clan will be welcoming the 5th member of our family! As we have said with the arrival of Ariana, it was hard to imagine what she was going to be like, look like, etc., and again we wonder what is awaiting us. Clarissa is due on the 8th of June, and that weekend is turning out to be a very busy weekend. Alaina has a dance recital on the 7th and an awards ceremony on the 9th for American Heritage Girls. I personally think that she will want to come much earlier than the 8th. Alaina was 4 days late, Ari was 7 days late (according to my records; 14 days with Beth)...anyway. Not really sure who actually reads our blogs, so if you do...When do you think she'll be born? According to textbooks 37 weeks is the time when baby is considered fully developed, the main thing that happens in the last 3 weeks is putting on a half of ounce a day. We've been preparing as much as we can and we plan to do special things with the girls before that day arrives. Also if you haven't done so yet, if you want to be notified by email when we update our blog, then please subscribed on the right. Once you sign up you have to go to your email and verify your address (some may have to look in their junk/spam folder). When the baby arrives, our blog will be the top of our list to post pictures and details of our new baby, so subscribe now!

Baby Moses play

Alaina's favorite movie right now is Prince of Egypt. On the top is a photo of Alaina and Ariana watching it. Alaina is afraid in some parts so Ariana is comforting her. Below that is a photo of Ariana and Alaina role-playing. I "caught" them playing Baby Moses here...Ariana is the mommy about to put baby Moses in the river, and Alaina and her doll are the Egyptian Princess and young Ramses about to find the baby in the river. Ariana changes roles from Moses' mother to her sister when the baby is in the river. I so wish I could have caught this on video- Ariana is doing the singing of "My Last Lullabye" but as soon as a camera shows up she's busy saying cheese and posing, so this photo is my best shot. I am so thankful that this is the kind of role-playing that they want to do. I feel so blessed by my beautiful daughters.

Happy Easter!

The girls had a great Easter! It was a fun-filled day at Grandma's and plenty of candy to last a while! Our precious girls love to match any chance they get, and when Clarissa gets here we may have to start making the dresses for them all to match. Only 10.5 weeks left until the arrival of our new little girl. We are all anxious for the big day!

Potty Training

So for those of you that can see our google calendar, you will know we started to potty train Ariana on February 25th. It is going pretty well. Ariana is a determined, independent person who decided after watching the DVD Potty Power and potty training her doll (named Goo-goo Gaa-gaa) that she also wanted to be a big girl and always wear underwear and keep it dry. We kept it very upbeat. We used ideas from Dr. Phil's method of potty training and the book Potty Training in a Day. Both were great resources. We were very positive about the whole experience, but in the end it was Ariana's determination to succeed which has made it happen.

We are still working on getting BMs (bowl movements) in the potty every time. Alaina tries to help by praising her sister, keeping it positive, and modeling. I am certain that much of Ariana's success is due to her big sister's teaching. Now if we could just convince her that it is okay to wear diapers at bed and nap time, and it is okay to need help wiping after BMs! Ariana's birthday was on Halloween, so she is two years and four months old.

Too many thoughts in this head of mine!

I really do have tons to blog about it, but I need some sort of organization of my many thoughts....this site is solely for the purpose to update all of my family life, what's going on with us and stuff. There are two other links to the right, one dedicated to my spiritual growth, and the other to my belly growth (LOL)

As far as what is happening with us...February went by fast, of course it is a short month, but I just blinked and here we are. My sister gave birth to my first niece on my side of the family....I am still trying to get a picture to post...Welcome to the family Naomi Morgan (Feb 2). Alaina seems to be doing well with homeschooling and Ari is being potty'd train this week...she is doing really well. Ari now can tell a joke. We ask her if she is still dry and she responds by saying "Uh, no :(, Just Kidding!:)" Too Funny! I think Beth is better blogging about the family stuff, but I figured since we didn't have a February posting...I might as well do one!

Reflections on Bathtime.

Oh, the challenges of keeping our offspring clean! In our household it is a major ordeal, taking several hours. I usually choose to give a bath in the mornings since I am not too exhausted yet. If only I could do the same for the bedtime rituals....now that is something I would love to do ahead of time!
Well at least for me both of my bathing beauties are willing to take a bath together. First I remove the rugs from the bathroom floor. I lay a slightly used towel (usually mine from the morning) up against the tub to guard against spills. Then I remove the shower head from it's stand, switch the setting, and place it in the tub. Next I start running the water (we must have bubbles! Not too hot, not too cold!) Then I take the Dora the Explorer no-slide mat from the hook it dries on and stick it to the bottom of the tub. And finally I dump the "bath toys" from their net bag into the tub. Did I say finally? We also need at least two more towels and washclothes!
Tired? I haven't even cleaned anyone yet! Then there is the announcement of the bath, followed by cries of, "Naked time! Naked time" and small bodies running about in various states of dress. Eventually they are herded into the bathroom, when Ariana says "where baby?" and searches for her favorite bath toy. No, it is not a baby. It's actually a toy jellyfish, in an unlikely shade of blue, with a doll-like face. Or maybe it is an octopus. what do I know? The manufacturers created this toy for Target for a mermaid playset, not originally intended for the tub, but hey it works.
Alaina usually makes me "coffee;" a red cup full of bubbles and water. At some point there is usually a waterfight with the squirting bath toys (how does one get those clean?) and "No hitting Ari! Mommy she's hitting me!" from my eldest. The youngest today yelled, "No throw toys Nayna!" so I assume neither child is ever entirely at fault....like most people.
Usually the bath ends when Ariana begins to climb out of the tub and streak through the house. Then I have to capture her, clean her little body, and wrap her in a towel. The showerhead comes in handy then...she most often has her hair washed while wrapped in a towel on my lap. She pitifully cries, "all done mommy!" at the top of her little lungs. She then must be lotioned up (no I can't skip it, it combats her eczema) and diapered and dressed, while reminding Alaina to wash wash wash!
While Ari sits and sucks up some Dora time, I tackle Alaina. Typically it involves setting the timer for some more "play time," double checking to see that she's washed herself (amid cries of "that was short" and "Can I play some more?") and washing her hair. This particular day she had orange paint in it as a result of her art project yesterday (and on her back and shoulder. She wore both a shirt and paint smock, so I was amazed.) Washing Alaina's hair is no longer a chore, because she's (finally) learned to keep her head tipped back. She also wants to be picked up from the tub, wrapped in towels, and cuddled. Although we still have the cuddle time (and often Dora time) she has to walk now since I'm 20 weeks along.
I wonder why it is that so many parents choose to make bathtime a daily ritual. My day isn't long enough, and I am blessed to stay home! Two or three times a week is plenty!
I know that time is limited, though, when bathtime will be so much fun. I enjoy the rituals and snuggle time, too, and I wouldn't want anyone else to take care of my little girls. Although I encourage Alaina to consider a shower ("Lele takes showers") and I know it will be less work later, I will miss this stage when it passes. And I wonder how adding a new little one will change the dynamics of our family. But I am looking forward to finding out. A baby is a blessing. Ariana has blessed our lives, and another child will only make life richer and fuller for all of us.

Three's a charm!

Well, it's official, I have three weddings to save for! I won't lie, I have been dying for some testosterone in my home. But I have felt that this was going to be the outcome and I am really thrilled at the dynamics of having three girls. It just means that one day I will get my very own bathroom, or outhouse. I have been more anxious for this little one to arrive, and been holding babies any chance I get, and they have been little girls. We are officially at the half-way mark, and it went by pretty fast. So I guess many are wondering about her name and you'll be surprised it will not begin with an "A"....so we can't wait until CLARISSA JOY is in our arms, and big sister Alaina can't wait either. To see pictures from our latest ultrasound, click on the pictures to the right.