Routines?

Just a little update of our princess. Today was my first day off with our princess, I finished my long term sub assignment on Friday. It was so nice being home with Rhowan for the day and getting some QT (quality time). We had our stations throughout the house, our princess is a little high maintenance and gets bored quite easily! As my sister says, I was a high strung kid and her daddy is a high strung adult, so she has it from both sides! :)
She has been doing so well on her routine (knock on wood), she is in bed by 6, wakes up once to nurse and then goes back down. Well last night, being it was Super Bowl Sunday we were at TJ's parents house for a get together. We tried putting her down at the house, so we could play a dice game and she was NOT having it. So on the way home, about 9 she was half asleep, so I had daddy drive around a bit to get her in a real good sleep. She knocked right out and went right in her crib until 3 am. Perfect, went back down til 7 am...nice! Oh my, one day of her routine being off and boy did I pay for it today. She had two mini naps, about 45 min each and then around 3:30- 4 she got super fussy, crying. That is just not like her, so I gave her a bath to soothe her and then feed her and do our usual nightly routine, a bit early 5:30 to get back on the routine. Needless to say she was not having it. I don't get it, how does one night ruin it all?
I keep telling TJ to stop stressing, a night won't throw her off and everyone who has babies doesn't just hide away in their houses to be in bed at a certain time. Don't get me wrong, I am all about routines! I think they are very important and will continue to have Rhowan on one. We have agreed early on that if we miss out on things and have to stay home or leave places early, then that's what we need to do. This baseball season we probably won't make it to many games, being they changed Saturday's games to night games as well. Sunday is the only day game now. :(
Let's just hope she stays on this routine and we never have to experience the "crying it out." (knock on wood again.)
Rhowan goes for her four month check up in two weeks...how fast they grow!
Now that I am back day to day, we will get to have more days together, so I am happy about that, I don't like missing out on all her moments!

Baby Alexa is Here!

Rhowan is a big cousin. How fun is that? And so close in age. Just an update for you all. My sister had her baby girl, Alexa Maria Baca, 7 lbs and 2 oz, 19 1/2 inches long and she was born on January 27, 2010 at 11:24 am. Nichole pushed for a whole 12 minutes and there she was! How lucky is that! They are home already (lucky again) and doing very well. We are so excited to have a niece...boy is our family growing! We got to go the hospital and see her for a bit last night while Rhowan's Oma and Papa came over to watch her and I forgot how tiny they are (and it's only been 3 months!) The upcoming holidays and events shall be fun and interesting with two new little ones around...but there can only be one princess, so Alexa is our Angel! :)

Auntie Nichole's Baby Shower

As many of you know and are anxiously waiting to hear for yourselves, my sister should be expecitng a baby girl, Alexa, any day now. I am finally uploading her baby shower pictures. We did a very quaint baby shower at my moms a few weeks ago, which turned out so nice and couldn't have been on a more beautiful, warm January afternoon. I am so excited for Rhowan to have a little cousin to play with so close in age and close by. It will be an amazing experience to raise our little girls together. Nathan is such a huge help and a big fan of Rhowan I am sure he will be just as great as a big brother. Here are some of her shower pictures for you all to enjoy!

Rice Cereal?

So I thought I'd try giving Rhowan her first serving of rice cereal tonight. I had noticed this weekend that she was nursing every 3 hours rather than 4 and her sleeping was way off...she wasn't sticking to her routine as well. Then come Monday Auntie Nichole, noticed that she was way more hungry and more often as well. So last night I figured ok, well maybe its time to go to 6 oz, she was doing 4 oz every 4 hours. So I brought out all the big girl bottles and told my sister to try doing 6 oz today and see if she lasted longer. Well...she gulped it up and wanted more. So another few hours went by and she ate again. So I think she is in a transition and growing spurt. I thought I'd try the rice cereal, even though the Dr told me wait til 4 months, cause I am exhausted and she was getting up every 3 hours which was very unusual for her. Before she was sleeping from 6 to 2:30 am then back down til 6:30 ish.

Needless, to say she wanted nothing to do with the rice cereal...she spit it out and made the nastiest face ever! I will try again tomorrow, but in the mean time I am just hoping she goes back to her nightly routine of sleeping through the night, waking up just once to nurse! She still won't take a bottle from me, but that is ok. I enjoy nursing her and am sad when I'm at work and have to pump. I do get to nurse right before I go in the mornings and right when I get home, so it's working out.

Next week our little princess will start a new schedule with a new person watching her because her baby cousin Alexa should be here any day. Rhowan has been so spoiled to get to stay in her environment while Auntie Nichole came here every day for the past six weeks, but the person who will be watching her is just down the street and has a 7 month old of her own, Emily. So we are going to try out 3 days a week and hope others will pitch in the other 2 days a week until my long term assignment is over.

Well that is it for now, we'll catch you up with more later. I've been slacking on the blog, with work, house duties, being a wife, mommy, etc. It's crazy how fast time flies.

We love you and miss you all.

xoxoxo

Our Growing Princess...12 weeks old tomorrow

Hello everyone,
Our little princess is getting so big every day. She will already be 12 weeks tomorrow, but won't be 3 months until the 20th of this month...that is so weird how that works out. Anyway, she is always full of smiles, even when she wakes up for her middle of the night feedings and in the morning when she is hungry and has a dirty diaper, you can still get a beautiful smile from her the second you look at her. I absolutely love it...it makes waking up when you are dead tired so worth it. She has even giggled out loud for us a few times when we are making her laugh and playing. She is just such a good baby. She is always wanting her entire fists in her mouth, which the Dr says is ok, it develops gross motor skills apparently. She is a spitter upper, but a happy one...you just have to make sure you have that spit up rag/burpie there at all times! She is now in her crib all night, just up twice to nurse and goes right back down. She loves her new mobile that sings lullabies, if she cries for longer than 7 seconds it automatically turns on and she can usually put herself back to sleep with it playing. I have become obsessed with watching he sleep on the monitor. I am always watching her and waking up to look at her and make sure she is still breathing...I know, I am paranoid!
I went back to work as most of you know, which was one of the hardest things I had to do. It's been great because my sister comes here in the mornings to watch her, we are very blessed for that cause I'd be a wreck if I was having to leave her in day care. Since I am back at work Rhowan has finally gotten herself into a routine...I love it and it has made things so much easier. She is in bed by 6:30 and will go for a long stretch, waking up at about 1 or 2 for a feeding, then she goes right back down until about 6:30 or 7. I feed her at 7:30, then she watches Baby Einsteins in her swing or vibrating chair while mommy finishes getting ready and Auntie Nichole gets here and I am off to work by 8. By the time I get home I only get about 2 hours with her, but she needs the sleep and routine, so I can't complain.
I just never realized how hard it would be to be a full time working mommy and wife. I feel so overwhelmed...I cried every day my first week back. I just feel like I am not giving either one 100 % because I am always stressed about lesson planning, grading, prepping for the next day, or my mind is on wanting to be with my daughter. It's so tough, I am still working on balancing it all, but I am sure I will adjust. All our parents did it, so I am sure I can too.
Baseball season is right around the corner, so our lives are going to get even crazier. We sure will miss having daddy around so much.
Well now its just the waiting game for Rhowans baby cousin Alexa to arrive. :)
Talk to you all soon.
xoxoo,
The Bruces

This year was a big year to finish out 2009. We were blessed with our beautiful daughter, making 2009 one of the best years of my life. Then my sister turned 30 and we celebrated that with our closest friends and family. December was Rhowan's First Christmas, which was absolutely a blessing. Then my closest friends and most dear to my heart, Amy and Ana turned the big 30 this year as well. We had a good time celebrating with them the night before New Years in San Diego.

We rang in the New Year wishing for an even more blessed 2010. I hope God has many more blessings coming our way as he watches over us and continues to help us strive to be wonderful parents and have a strong marriage. Then finally my birthday. It's tough having a birthday just a few days after New Years and a week after Christmas...everyone is exhausted, back to work, hung over and broke! LOL. That's ok though, it was a nice, low key and enjoyable dinner with our family.

Here are just a few pictures to share. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and Happy New Year to you all. Thank you for everyone who was a part of our 2009 and that has always been there for us to love, support and celebrate life's blessings with us. We love you all.

Mommy's Birthday

This year I got to celebrate my birthday as my first year being a mommy. After the busy holidays, birthdays and New Years we kept it very low key and small this year...no biggie, just 28, wait for the big 30! :)