These Hands...

These hands have held each other for the past 6 1/2 years.  From the day we met, he gently took my hand in his, that moment I'll never forget.  These hands belong to best friends, young and hopeful, eagerly anticipating the future to come.

Photo by Spencer Selvidge

These hands held each other on our wedding day, the hands of soulmates, full of love,and thanking God for our blessed union.  We held hands as we promised to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.  

Photo by Spencer Selvidge

These hands held on to the life growing inside as we dreamed of who our little girl would be.  These hands will work along side each other as we work to build our family.  Together, our hands will hold our family together and give strength when it is needed.

Photo by Sarah Giles

These hands have held you from the day you were born and we felt as if we held the whole world in our hands.  These hands will love you through the years and, with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other. These hands will wipe the tears from your eyes - tears of sorrow and tears of joy. These hands will always be here for you as the hands of Mommy and Daddy.

Photo by Sarah Giles

These hands will continue to shape you into the amazing person you will be.  These hands, even when wrinkled and aged, will still be holding on to one another and reaching out for yours. And these hands made your baby hands and we cannot wait to see what your hands will do! 

Photo by Sarah Giles

Jillian's First Day of School

And so, today was the day that Julian and I had to take our Jilly Bean to daycare for the first day.  Actually, he and I prefer to call it school...somehow, that makes us feel better, like all she is doing is going and learning.  And I am sure that she will learn lots and so, for our sanity, today was Jilly's first day of school!

We got her ready for her first day of school by putting her in a cute outfit.  After all, the most important thing about a first day of school is the outfit the willingness to go learn!

And I had to tame all that wild hair of hers, too!

And while I finished prepping her diaper bag and her bottle, Jilly caught up on some morning cartoons. 

After getting everything ready, it was time to go so Julian put her in her carseat...

...and off we went!

Walking into school

...at least we hope she will love school at St. Michael's

 Once we got into her classroom, Julian and I made her crib, put her milk in the fridge, stocked her cubby, introduced her to her new teachers and friends...

...and tried our hardest to hold it together.  (Note: do not be fooled by that smile on my face, I started crying shortly after this picture was taken, when it was time to hand Jilly to her teacher)

As much as I am glad that she will make little friends and learn great things from school, my heart really hurt because I wish that Julian and I could stay home with her all the time.  But, we know that we did the right thing and so he and I left her in the hands of St. Michael's and we went to breakfast before we both had to be at work.

I tried my hardest to concentrate at work, but all I could think about was getting out to go pick up our girl.  As I was leaving work, I had to remind myself to go the speed limit and I had to refrain from running into the school once I got there. 

But it was finally time to see our sweet baby's face, and I could not be more happy to be greeted by this sweet, smiling Jillian...

All in all, Jilly's first day of school was a success.  Her teacher said that she ate 6.5 ounces and napped a little here and there.  Many thanks to all of you who thought of us and prayed for us. Now, I just need to work up the strength to do this all again tomorrow...sigh!

Happy Easter from the Acostas

Happy Easter...or should we say Hoppy Easter!  We had a great Easter Sunday today, filled with lots of love, quality time, and smiles from our lil' bunny girl! 

We started off with our prayers, since Jesus is the reason for our Easter celebrations.  Even after we were done, Jilly kept praying because she said she had much to be thankful for.

Then, it was off to 11:00 AM mass at St. Thomas Aquinas.  The church was packed with people, and Father Michael even commented that he wished the crowds were this big every Sunday. 

After church, we went to have lunch at Cheddars.

Daddy and Jilly at lunch

And after nap time for everyone, Jilly got all of her Easter baskets and goodies.  She got 3 Easter baskets and lots of fun clothes from Grandma Julie, Mami Mari, and Grandma and Grandpa Fonseca.  And of course, some special Easter items from Mommy and Daddy too!

And hey, better late than never...Jilly also got a cute basket from Uncle Mike, Auntie Jen, and Cousin Lauren!

Then it was time for the First Annual Acosta Easter Egg Hunt!  Daddy went and hid the eggs.  I made him wear the bunny ears, but there was no way I was getting a picture of that.  Oh well, at least he wore them so Jilly could see her silly Daddy!

We searched high and low for all the eggs...

...and it was really exciting when we found them!

Ok, ok, I think I had more fun than Jilly did!  But even if she did not really understand what was going on, it was so great for Julian and me to establish our family traditions on this, our first Easter as a family.  And I hope we made Jilly's first Easter extra special!!!  Hope everyone else had a blessed day, too!

 Happy Easter everyone!  Love, The Acostas

Silly Jilly - What'd you hit me for?!

This morning, before I went to work, I had to wake Jilly up in order to feed her.  She was half asleep as she was eating so I kept having to tickle her or talk to her to get her to keep eating.  About half way through, she was flailing her arms around and she accidently hit herself in the face.  She pulled off, and looked up at me with this face...

...As if to say, "What is wrong with you, Mommy?!  What'd you hit me for?!"

Silly Jilly!!!

Needless to say, I couldn't stop laughing, she couldn't stop smiling, and the rest of the feeding didn't go so well.  Haha, oh well!  At least we both had a good laugh and a happy morning!

How Sweet It Was...

...To be on maternity leave.  But like one of my favorite Dave Matthews Band songs says, "All good things must come to an end sometimes."  And today, my maternity leave ends and I go back to work. =(
I have been dreading this transition for quite some time now.  I know that everything will be ok.  I can tell myself over and over again that Jillian will know how much I love her.  I try to convince myself that I am doing the responsible thing, the right thing, by showing her that you can be a strong woman who can balance a career with a family. 
But all the reasoning and all the convincing doesn't change the fact that my heart is breaking at the thought of not spending every moment with my Jilly Bear.  After all, she has been my constant companion for almost 11 months now, since she was conceived, grew in my belly, and came out to grace us with her presence.  All day, everyday, I have loved every minute of soaking in my sweet baby girl, and I have cherished all the freedom of getting to spend so much time with Julian too.  I just wish I could split myself in half so that I could still be home with Jilly and Juli always and go back to work.  I never could have imagined that it would hurt this bad.
But, when I wake up tomorrow morning, I will do what I need to do to make it a good day.  And I will continue to do that everyday, and hopefully, it will get easier.  I am sure that we will get into a routine where I can enjoy time while I am at work, but more importantly, really treasure time with Jillian and Julian.  My heart is happy to know that she will not have to go to daycare just yet as she spends some days with her Daddy and some days with her Mami Mari, who is graciously coming in town to take care of her. 
I have so many sweet memories of my family that will carry me through the long 8 hours until I get to come home to hold my Jilly...

...like early morning baby conversations or watching cartoons...

...and mid-morning naps with Jilly and Daddy...

...and late morning trips to the park...

...and early afternoon naps on Mommy...

...or naps with her monkeys...

 (what can I say, she sleeps a lot!)

...and mid afternoon play time...

...and some of my favorite memories, late afternoon picnics with Daddy!

Oh, How Sweet It Was...

Healthy Baby Girl

Earlier this week, I took Jillian to go get her 2-month check-up at the doctor.  As every mommy knows, the 2-month mark is the first time they get a round of shots so I was dreading it.  But Jilly seemed to be in good spirits before we went, kicking and smiling as usual.  Julian had to work during this appointment, so it was just us girls.  I promised her that if she was a big, strong girl, I would be too, meaning I wouldn't cry. After all, I had to be strong since I was flying solo.

The doctor checked her eyes, ears, mouth, stomach, hands, feet...and everything checked out well.  They took her weight and her height and here's how she measures up:

Weight - 12 pounds, 11 ounces - 90th percentile

Height - 22 inches - 55th percentile

She has gained over 3 pounds since she was born and has grown 2 inches!  She is such a big, healthy baby!  But then it was time for her shots (cue the dooms day music)...

She fell asleep while we were waiting for the nurse to come in.  And then they gave her 3 shots and an oral vaccination.  And though she cried for about a minute, she quickly calmed down.  I put her in her car seat and we headed home.

Jillian held up her end of the bargain by being a big, strong girl, and I am proud to say that I did too!  I didn't cry at all.  When we got home, she slept for 3 hours.  Then, she woke up, ate, and cried for the next hour and half. =(  Poor baby!  But after a little Baby Tylenol and Tiger Balm, she calmed down and was back to her normal self.  All in all, I would say that Jilly did a great job with her first shots...let's hope she keeps this up when it's time for her 4-month shots!  Julian and I are so grateful to have a healthy, happy, big baby girl!

Life as a House

"I always thought of myself as a house. I was always what I lived in. It didn't need to be big. It didn't even need to be beautiful. It just needed to be mine. I became what I was meant to be. I built myself a life. I built myself a house."  

-Quote from the 2001 movie, "Life as a House" 

Julian, Jillian, and I went to our selections and pre-construction meeting last week.  At this meeting, we got to select all the finishes that are going into our house - cabinets, carpet, trim, paint, stone, granite, flooring, everything! 

It was so much fun to go through this process and to pick out everything that we like.  Julian and I make a great team as we agreed on nearly everything.  And every once in awhile, this little one provided her input, too!

At the pre-construction part, you walk through all the floor plans to make sure that outlets are where you want them or the tile is angled the way you want.  We also got to meet our superintendent, Thomas Pack, or T-Pack for short.  He is our go-to guy and we are really looking forward to working with him.

After the meeting was over, we went out to our lot and you can imagine our surprise when we saw the Sold sign in the yard, along with a sign with our names on it!!! 

At this point, they actually break ground in 2-3 weeks.  We will probably go by our house as often as we can so we can watch and track the progress on our house.  So be on the lookout for blog picture updates as we go through Life as a House!!!

Happy 2 Months, Jillian!

Today, our sweet baby girl, Jillian, is two months old!  So what has Jilly been up to this past month?  Well, she is still such a happy baby and we get to see her pretty smile everyday.  She smiles when she wakes up in the morning, like her Daddy!  She smiles when she is about to eat, when Daddy comes home from work, and when Mommy talks to her! She smiles up at the fans that we have in our house.  Mr. Fan is her friend and she loves to talk to him, too.  Jillian is good at carrying on a conversation as she coos all day long.  And she has even laughed for us twice, once while Daddy was swinging her up and once while Mommy was being silly!  She also really loves going on walks outside, either in her stroller or in the Baby Bjorn.  It is so great to watch the curious, content look on her face as she discovers the world around her.  We are very blessed to have our little angel baby here with us for the past 2 months and we can't wait to see her through many more month-days to come!  We love you Jilly Bean!

My Monkey is still bigger than me, but I am getting bigger everyday

I love chewing on my hands!

Goodbye till next month!