Overdue...

the last time i posted an entry in "it's a wonderful life" was october first. that is way too long ago. i don't know where the time goes...i think i say that just about every time i write:)


in october we visited a local pumpkin patch, creating some great pictures. hadley is such a fun toy. she was fairly neutral towards the entire trip, but did not care for being put on the cold, damp ground amongst the pumpkins. see pictures below!!


between then and now, hadley has mastered sitting up on her own, and rolling over. both of these are great milestones for our family, and also make a lot less work for mommy and daddy. hadley is so proud of herself. she smiles at you as if to say "look at me, i am soooooo cool now!"


we also started spoon feeding. first came the rice cereal, then carrots, bananas, peas, apples, peaches,  and squash. i believe the next food we will introduce is green beans. after that, i think we will just go for it, and hit the entrees and everything else. she's like most everything, but seems to especially enjoy the carrots and bananas. perhaps she doesn't care much for peas. no surprise there, neither of her parents are big fans. i've decided hadley eats best for her grandmas, especially grandma sherry when we visit roseberg. grandmas must be pros at this already. we are still learning.


speaking of roseberg, we made a visit in early november, after being away for a couple months. we really enjoyed our time with joseph's family. hadley was a big hit at texaco, and sat behind the counter with grandma or grandpa and met so many people! it's so sweet hearing that people have heard so much about her, and it's nice to finally meet her. joe and sherry are definitely proud grandparents.


my sister, iayesha had her baby october 20th. i was at home, sad to miss the birth. but i had a sneak stomach something for just a few hours the day before, and could not bring myself to risk bringing germs with me. she and jon had a boy, elliot gabriel smith. hadley really enjoys talking with him, probably bossing him around already. she seems like she might be that kind of girl.


i worked the day before and thanksgiving day, so i sent joseph and hadley to roseberg for thanksgiving, and planned to go down thursday after work. aunt marci, uncle joe and cousins steven and shayna we up from LA, and got to meet hadley for the first time, which was nice. joseph was there for three nights, i was there for two, and we overlapped for one. too bad we weren't together more, but it was still an awesome thanksgiving weekend.


we are gearing up for christmas now!! after a lot of searching, we found our christmas box. or rather, joseph found it.  on the outside,  it wasn't what we were looking for, and it took some serious effort to locate. i had given up. we thought maybe a night we left the garage door open, somebody swiped it. thinking my personal childhood ornaments were in there, i was very, very sad. after stubbing my toe on in the hallway, lying on the floor crying, joseph took one more look and found it. it was all less spectacular than i remembered. but once we have a tree up, and can hang our ornaments, we will be very happy.


i had better post some pictures and go take care of haddy and joseph. it's amazing how a man can ignore a baby. he is napping in the bed, with haddy in the green bumbo seat about a foot away from his head, screaming loudly about something, and he is pretending she isn't.

SHE'S SO LOUD!!

hadley is such a good baby, obviously. but man, can she ever get cranky and use her lungs. today happens to be one of those days. right now, i am in the office, door closed, avoiding her cries. i think i heard it was around three months that babies may start to manipulate their parents. i would say hadley is right on schedule. she can be screaming in the swing, and as soon as you are near to her, the cries stop, realizing you are about to pick her up. if it were up to her, every waking moment would include someone to hold her.


i suppose that is not entirely the case. but really, she loves to be held, especially if you are willing to be up walking, and ESPECIALLY if you are willing to take her outside. we are so blessed to have had her in june, the warm, sunny months have been amazing for us. i can't imagine having her in december and walking around in the nasty, rainy oregon winter months. i hope for my sister's sake that her baby, due in just a few short weeks, is not so opposed to the indoors in his or her first months.


hadley took her first plane trip to minneapolis to visit my family over labor day weekend. the flight there was pretty great, and set a high bar for the future. she was smiling, and charming and everyone fell in love with her. too bad about that high bar, because on the way back she screamed for about half an hour solid through take off, and then for some time towards the end. but we made it, and it was worth it.


highlights for me include but are not limited to...


driving across the state border to wisconsin to find a geocache or two (or was it three?)


taking nieces and nephew to find a few geocaches right in their very own tiny town!!


a beautiful evening walk with joseph and hadley in the middle of nowhere, right around sunset, with quiet cornfields whispering silence to us.


having all cousins from my siblings' side togoether, even though it edged up to insanity at moments.


probably the most exciting event for both joseph and myself was attending a minnesota twins baseball game at target field with joseph's friend renee and her husband dave. it was joseph's first time at a twins game, and first time at target field for both of us. no more metrodome for the twins!! outdoor baseball is back for the twin cities!! the boys won, of course. they are on fire this year!! we also got to see thome hit his 584th home run or somewhere around there, to beat mcguire's record. to top it off, it was twin's hall of fame game day, so a lot of baseball history was there to see, and greg gagne inducted was inducted in. it's a beautiful stadium, and what a year to open! thanks to joseph, renee and dave for a great day.


coming back marked the end of water feature season, i guess. bummer. especially today when it's so warm, and hadley and i plan on meeting daddy at subway to get dinner to eat at the park. we do have the pool here though, so maybe if it's still warm tomorrow, we will dip her in. she's so happy in the water! we will surely be looking into swim lessons this winter/spring.


i've been back to work for about three weeks now. it's been both a relief and a stress for me. i am relieved to be back at work, and have a little break from the house and breastfeeding every two hours. i am thankful to be back spending time with my work friends and family. but it's also a stress for me to be gone nearly 14 hours, and come home to a screaming child just to get out of my yucky scrubs to breastfeed and get her to sleep. so far, daddy has kept hadley in the morning until he goes to work, and also picks her up on his way home. that has made the transition back to work unbelievably easier on hadley and me. if it were not for daddy, i would be getting up 0400, to get baby up by 0500, to leave by 0545, to drop off hadley by 0615, to get to the hospital by 0645. those days will still be in our future at times, i know. but my hero remains just that.


two weekends ago the smashing pumpkins made their way through seattle, then portland. joseph was lucky enough to be able to make it to both shows, friday in seattle and saturday in portland, and still work the day in between!! what a man! jon and joseph had a great time at the seattle show, while i saw my good friend karissa, who hadn't yet met hadley. i just went along to be the driver, since like i said, joseph had to work both friday and saturday. saturday night, we dropped baby g off with my sister, and i got to tag along with joseph to the portland show!! it was pretty super, i have to admit. it was the best show i have ever been to. im happy joseph has introduced me to so much music since we've been together.


joseph has been working quite a bit this summer. it's been good in some ways, and tiring in others. i am looking forward to him having two days off in a row again, and hoping we will get to makes some little trips to visit family, the coast, maybe central oregon. i've been entertaining the idea of driving down accross the oregon/california border. would be nice to cross california off our list of states we haven't geocached in. maybe we will do that next time we visit roseburg.


this weekend is the first weekend i will be working both saturday and sunday, so baby hadley gets to go visit grandma beth's house to snuggle. we are sad to think she will be gone for 48 hours, and we will see if hadley, grandma, joseph and myself can handle it. it would be very difficult to work a full day, come home and take care of baby, sleep and get up to start all over again. we are lucky to have grandma beth close by. i am hoping we take advantage of the baby free evenings to 1. clean up after ourselves 2. get out for a good, fast, babyless walk and 3. sleep well. i'm crossing my fingers and holding my breath.

PICTURES!!

Gilbuena cousins

while we were in roseburg visiting joseph's family, his sister michelle had her good friend brittany farrer come out to take some pictures of all the gilbuena cousins together. she did such a great job, no thanks to any help from baby hadley. it's tough to get a happy shot of her at a photo shoot! thanks brittany!


p.s. you can see more of brittany's photos at brittanyfarrer.blogspot.com

family, friends, fountains and baby shower!!

these photos are in no particular order, joseph and i were trying to figure out how to rearrange them, with no success. then i stopped caring, and moved on!


let's see here...well the water pictures are ongoing. it's been one of my favorite parts of this summer. hadley seems to enjoy it, and mommy and daddy sure do. there are a couple splash pad areas here in wilsonville, and they can be super busy on the hottest days. we usually go after dinner, when things are starting to slow down though. 


she also had her first time in the big bath, and it was cute to see her wiggling around. she is going to be our little swimmer. 


joseph's sister shanda and two nephews AJ and dylan were in oregon for a long weekend. they stayed one night at the end, and one night at the beginning with us. the in between we spent in roseburg with joseph's parents, other sister and her family. this was minus joseph though, he was stuck working the entire time, and we were all very sad without him. especially me. i didn't take any pictures but a few on the iphone. i will get them on to the computer and onto here soon i hope. but dilly and AJ had a super time playing the wii. they enjoyed playing some games that were not in their own library at home. hadley really enjoyed all the snuggle time with her aunts and grandparents. i enjoyed having free hands a little more than usual. 


derek, bree and riley came over to visit one evening about a week ago. it was great to have them over. they were kind enough to bring us dinner, lots of dinner, and dessert, and leave leftovers behind! i can't believe how grown up riley is getting to be. she is talking so much now! when i met her, she wasn't even walking yet! what a big girl now! i told her hadley would become more fun to have around soon. someday they will be running around together. 


last sunday i hosted my sister's baby shower here at our house. much thanks to my mom who came to visit a couple days before so i could have some good cleaning time before visitors. my sister's long time friend katy was also a huge help. i am so glad she's living in portland now. we've even had her along for our pedicures recently. jewel made some great jungle cupcakes, and my mom and stephanie also brought yummy food. the picture is my sister iayesha and her good friend denise. we had a good turnout, including my brother, jeff and baby justin. they were down from seattle for my brother's high school reunion, so we also got to play with them on saturday. justin is so cute, eating his grown up food, and playing at the playground.


we are flying to minneapolis for a long weekend very early thursday morning. i have family back there, and i really want them to meet hadley as a tiny baby and am really looking forward to her meeting more of her cousins. this is the last bunch until my sister has her tiny baby in about six weeks. 


when we return home, i will be getting ready to go back to work just a couple days later. i am very excited to go back. it is easy to be excited because i have a great friend, and a great mom and aunt who will be taking turns with hadley. it would be much harder had i had to choose a day care for baby h. it is two 12 hour days a week, so i should be able to manage that. i realize when the time comes, it will not be easy, no matter who hadley is with, i am just getting cabin fever. i am getting bored, regardless of the fact my hands are so full that i can't wash the dishes half the time. i love my job, and i love my co-workers. they are my friends and i've been missing them. 

GROWING UP SO FAST!!

like many babies, we are fairly certain hadley has mild acid reflux, and she's been sleeping mostly in her monkey bouncy seat. she has a strong preference for sitting upright. it's nice, most mornings we can now get to her quickly enough to wake up with her before she actually starts to cry. that also goes for when she wakes up in the middle of the night. this happens to be a few mornings ago when joseph went to change her diaper while i got ready to feed. like both of her parents, she likes to wake up slowly. this is to our advantage for now. when school rolls around in a few years, i will gain an understanding of what my mother and older siblings dealt with.


since i last posted, there have been great things to write about. it's finding the empty hands, and hadley allowing me time to stand still that is difficult. i will try to remember the important stuff.


two weeks ago today, my mom and i visited the hospital where hadley was born, and where my mom works. we weighed her on the baby scale in the ER, and was up to 9lbs. 2oz. that means she's gained over an ounce a day since she started gaining weight again. i am curious how long babies are supposed to keep at that rate. we will see late next week when we have our two month checkup with hadley's pediatrician.


along with the growth, we have been filtering out of newborn clothes, and into the 0-3 month drawer. i am sad to see a few of our favorite outfits go, but excited for a completely new wardrobe!! babies are lucky.


we've had a few trips with the top down. i've sat in the back most times, and she seems to enjoy it. it's hard to tell with babies. but i say if she doesn't cry or almost cry, she must like it. once, we made it on the freeway, and she did scream. but again, hard to tell with babies, because i happened to know her diaper had filled with a serious poop as we put her in the car. what's new?


hadley started busting out some smiles in the last couple weeks. daddy gets more than me. he's much more silly than i am. and grandma beth is better at baby talk, and has had a few. my best ones were actually tonight. we went for a walk outside, and she quickly fell asleep. i set her in the bouncy seat. when i returned with her blanket she was wide awake and smiling big, as if to say "haha, mom, i gotcha!! i am not ready for bedtime, it's only 10:00 pm!"


most recently, hadley has begun figuring her hands out. not to say she's figuring much else out yet, but she is more aware of those crazy things flailing around are attached to her. she grabs onto the sides of the baby bjorn now, and sometimes folds her hands over her blanket when she is sitting. that is almost as cute as her crossing her legs since she was about a day old.


there must be more going on, but it seems so usual for us, that i am having a hard time recalling...hadley and i are spending lots of quality time together at home, and we miss joseph when he is at work. secretly, i am jealous that he is at work. i miss my friends, and adults in general. however, hadley's diaper is much easier to change than any i see at work, so i am counting my blessings.


we are looking forward to joseph's sister shanda and his two nephews coming from nebraska this next week. i will be taking hadley down to roseburg so we can all be together (with the exception of joseph) for the length of their trip. joseph will come down and spend saturday evening with us. hadley and i will miss him, but it will be fun to be with family. i will enjoy the extra hands for hadley. it's tiring holding her all day long. she's a little princess that makes her opinion known. and in her opinion, if she wants held, somebody had better pick her up.


over labor day weekend we get to go to minnesota to see some of my family. my mom and brothers and nephew are also flying out. it will be a crazy houseful, but i want them to meet hadley when she's small. otherwise, next summer she will already be turning into a little girl!! we are hoping to hit a twins baseball game while we are there, and hopefully that will be with a friend of joseph's.


most nights we are getting enough sleep to survive. but there is no solid routine to help us yet...we could get to bed faster after she falls asleep, but then you wouldn't be getting this note right now!! sometimes sleep is overrated.


on that note, good night.

our big weekend!!

this isn't a super high quality photo, i know. it was taken with my iphone. but you get the point. hadley's sleeping in her extra cute hello kitty bed. 

let's see. exciting things this weekend include but are not limited to the following:

1. hadley and i walked around the appartment building we live in three times in a row and that made her happy. 

2. auntie jewel and grandma beth were here visiting saturday evening. grandma beth even stayed the night so mommy and daddy could sleep all the night through.

3. joseph and i went to dinner and a movie. dinner was deno's pizza, and movie was "dispicable me." both were awesome. best part, though, was not worrying about crying baby. she's starting to cry in the baby bjorn on my front right now:) 

4. my friend molly and her little guy harrison came to meet hadley today. she took a picture, but i didn't think of it. 

5. i wanted chips and salsa. i found out the salsa is really gross now. i know because it tastes like mold. 

6. daddy worked all weekend and we missed him A LOT. 

7. we have three wipes left. we will be going to costco after dinner.

baby hadley!!

hard to believe this little girl is five weeks old today, let alone that about nine months ago she was the size of a sesame seed!!

meet hadley elise gilbuena. she was born june 12th, 2010 at 0424. she weighed in at a whopping 7lbs. and no ounces, and when stretched out, measured 20 inches.

she's a little bigger now.

yes, it was a long labor, and i didn't enjoy most of it. i had about given up when joseph yelled "i can see her ear!!" shortly after, we had our beautiful baby g wrapped in a blanket, pooping on my chest. the things those nurses let happen...

i often think of things i want to share on facebook or at least write down, a lot is perhaps not facebook friendly. you know, boob talk or other things my guy friends may not want to hear about, or i may not want to tell the doctors at work! so i've completely deleted my former blog and started new. joseph and i have a really happy life together, and this is the start of our family. no need to keep what now seems so far gone, and insignificant around on here. so today is the first of what i hope will be tons and tons of great pieces of our life.

i've been meaning to start this for weeks, but with a newborn, as most people know, nothing seems to get done when you want it to. really, i've been on an actual computer (iphone is all i could manage with baby in hand nearly 24/7) about four times since we brought hadley home.

on that note, hadley is sleeping right now, which i hear means i should be too. so i am going to go nap until she wakes up. or instead i will go take a shower...