Grandma's Visit

My mom flew in to Philly a couple days after Qiana was born to help us out and thanks to her, we all kept our sanity and it ended up being a really fun week. Mom, we love your guts!!!



Playing Dress-up. I think she's going for the "Pouty Cinderella" look.




Having fun at the Smith Memorial Playhouse.



Reading Terminal Market for some good eats.





Decorating a pumpkin for FHE and showing off the apples we picked in the rain at the orchard earlier that day.

I Love This

As I check my e-mail and catch up on blogs, this is what's going on in the background:

Oh Baby! There's More!

Kurt and "QiQi" (...it's a nickname in progress....)

What a fun coincidence! Our friend, Julie, had her baby in the delivery room right next to ours a few hours after Qiana was born. Qiana and Maggie had their first play date the next evening.

Coming home from the hospital.

A big surprise to come home to on the front lawn...

...and on the front of the house.

A note from Siena to Qiana: "Welcome Home Little Sister! -With love, your older sister. I love you!! I will not hit you. I promise to share my toys with you. I love you, Qiana Noemi Chavez."

(Thanks Kurt and Amber! That was all SO fun to come home to.)

Under Dad's watchful eye, Siena tries to snuggle her lil' sis'.

More of the baby

Baby in...

Baby out.

Sucking her thumb already.

The official weigh-in.

Almost a smile.

Playing with mommy.

The official Philly pretzel welcome courtesy of the Adamsons.

Siena helping already.

The best big sister.

Qiana Noemi Chavez

Born at 10:27 this morning
7 lbs. 12 oz.
19.5 inches

The happy family of four. Siena is more excited than it looks.

Welcoming her little sister to the family.

Mommy and baby are doing well. Daddy and sister are very proud.

A Late Labor Day Post

The day started out with Siena doing what she does best: "Waste Not, Want Not."

Then we went to West Chester to buy her Christmas (yes, Christmas) present... a wooden kitchen. It was $20, but we are fixing it up... before and after pictures to come.


K & A met up with us for some bowling. It was Siena's first time and she was in heaven. The bowling ball inched down the lane every time she was up, but some pins were hit, so we considered it a successful bowling trip.

The Name Game

So, I think Juan needs a little coaxing in the right direction when it comes to naming the baby. My responsibility is to come up with a list of names, and his job is to narrow it down. Well, he has consistently done his job a little too well... as in, he narrows the list down to ZERO possible names. So far, I think we've been able to agree that we like "Noemi" as a middle name... so that's taken care of. Now, we just have to come up with a first name. Just for fun (not that it will necessarily influence the outcome,) I've put up a poll of name possibilities. PLEASE vote if there are ANY names that you think would work well, so I have supporting evidence that they are not all that bad. Who knows, maybe Juan can be swayed. :^)

Just Playin' Around

This is a pretty short clip, but it makes me laugh. Siena decided that swimsuits are best used as dress-up clothes... my girl's got style.

"Go Pheelees!"...as Siena says with a Spanish accent.

To sum up:

• Phillies vs Giants (1-0)
  
• Siena thinking the crowd was cheering for her... and soaking up the "attention"
• Friends to share in the fun
• PERFECT weather for a ballgame
  

Bye Bye Bare Wall

After rearranging Siena's room, her bare wall was even more hideous. So I stole this idea from NieNie and killed two birds with one stone: 1. decorate a wall and 2. put my stash of scrapbook paper to use.

Another Page Added to "The Housewife's Simple Fixes" Book of Knowledge

Question: What do these two pictures have in common?

Answer: They are both wearing the same nail polish.

I made the mistake of trying to paint Siena's toenails over a carpeted area (what was I thinking?!) All it took was one flying book, and there was hot pink nail polish everywhere!

I initially tried scrubbing the area with nail polish remover, thinking it was my only chance at getting a stain like that out, but it just made it worse; however, after some advice from a co-worker, I tried using hydrogen peroxide and VOILÀ! I can't believe it worked! Obviously, using h.p. would only be effective for lighter carpet, but I'm going to keep that in mind for stain clean-ups in the future. I learned, though, that when using non-diluted h.p. to clean, one should wear rubber gloves; my fingers first turned white (that was expected,) but the next day, they felt like they were bruised they were so sore. At least we don't have to deal ($) with that stain later when we move.

Oh, Siena...

The Countdown is Sort-of Starting

...We're talking less than 4 weeks, people! I'm so anxious it's not even funny. I'm holding off the "baby ticker" widget until the last week... then, and only then will I start an official countdown to the day we start the Pitocin.

(Still looking for a name, though. Any ideas out there?)