Happy 2 month birthday, Vanilla Bean

Today Carrie and I will be throwing Annabel a surprise 2 month birthday party. Grandma Villadiego, Aunt Kika and cousins Jessie, Jarod and Victoria will be coming, too. Chocolate cake and ice cream will be served.

Annabel in her new birthday dress. Lookin' good, girl!

Homemade chocolate bundt cake. Mmmm.

Even Ricky decided to get dressed for the occasion.

Group photo while singing sweet Annabel Happy Birthday.

I can't wear pink everyday...

sometimes I wear black, but even then my mommy makes sure that I have pink socks and a pink bow to match!

Annabel saw her pediatrician this week and she now weighs five pounds and three ounces.  Woohoo!  Way to go, little stinker!

Father's Day

Yesterday was Father's Day and as always, I called my dad first thing to tell him how important he is to me and that I love him. He lives in another country so he didn't even know it was Father's Day, but that's a whole other story.

For the first time, though, I got to experience Father's Day as a dad and I am thankful for all the calls, texts, emails and cards I received. My wife bought me a sweet card and some candies to celebrate the day. We also used the day as an excuse to dress Annabel up in a new dress and take some photos :)

Enjoy!

The many faces of Annabel

Startled!

Shy.

Scared?

Angry!

Sweet!

My new dress!

Annabel just loves her new dress.  Thank you, Chris and Janna!

Another recording...

Annabel's sweet cry

Another birthday.....this time it's Dad's.

Our friends Chris and Brian took Carrie and me to a Texas Rangers game for my 30th birthday. Chris also brought along with him his nephew Darion who got to experience his very first big league ball game. Rangers lost 6-3, but they're still in first place :)

Chris and Darion holding baby Annabel.


A view from our seats. (We missed Annabel the whole time we were here).



I took this picture of her little footsies today and thought I'd share. They are so cute I just want to eat them.


Today I called home when I was driving from work and I heard Annabel's cry in the background. Even though it was a cry, her sound filled me with joy. Soon I will record some audio of her and post it so you can hear her, too.

Mommy got me some bows for my hair!

Annabel got some new bows to accessorize her outfits.  She had to look pretty because MeeMaw and PawPaw came to visit.

6 weeks old...

Today Annabel is six weeks old! She had another appointment this morning with a speech/feeding therapist at Our Children's House in Grapevine. They are a great bunch of women who have a very cozy environment for children. We learned that Annabel has great coordination and muscle strength which is why her bottle feedings have been more and more successful. She is up to about 20 cc's per feeding by bottle until she gets pooped so hopefully with therapy she'll be able to handle her entire feeding. We will have 1 appointment per week from now on.

Yesterday was kind of a scary day here in Grapevine, TX. We actually had a tornado touch down a few miles from our house so the sirens were sounding. Carrie, Annabel, Ricky, Sadie and I all took cover in an interior room of the house and waited out the storm. Thankfully, there was no damage to our house other than some debris in the yard. So that means that Annabel, in her 6 weeks, has lived through an earthquake and a tornado. Hopefully no other natural disasters are headed our way :)

Well, that's all the updates I have for now.

Good night,
Jorge

More visitors

Uncle Britt

Frank and Denna

Bath time with Daddy!

Momma's little monkey!

Carrie bought this cute outfit for Annabel. It's a preemie size but it's a little too snug :)

Some more...

Photos by Tess Teter Photography

Annabel's brother Ricky and sister Sadie got to pose for photos, too.

Annabel had some additional visitors!

Our dear friend Sarina stopped by to watch Annabel so Carrie could run an errand. Sarina took excellent care of our sweet child. We love you, Sarina.



Annabel's loving nurse Kerri stopped by and brought her a nice gift.

Amazing

Yesterday I started playing around with the gadgets on Blogger.com and found one that tracks visitors on a map...sounded fun, so I tried it out.

We were amazed to see how far-reaching Annabel's story has become. All over the U.S, Canada, and even Europe and Asia, people are reading about our baby!

It is hard to describe how moved Carrie and I are that Annabel, despite being so small and fragile, has had an affect on so many people. We are equally moved that those followers continue to show their compassion in prayer and thoughts.

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By the way, at 2am today, Annabel again removed her feeding tube! Take a look at the new profile picture. Carrie captured the look she gets on her face when she commits a mischievous act :)

Annabel Aid - check it out!

www.annabel-aid-09.blogspot.com

Cutest. Pictures. Ever.

These are photos Carrie sent to my work. They took my breath away.

Also, I would like to add that this dress was bought long ago by my grandmother, an accomplished seamstress, and it was a size 3M. She modified it to fit our precious baby and it fits perfectly.

I miss my wife and daughter

This is my 3rd week back at work and it hasn't gotten any easier being away from Annabel and my wife.  I miss them terribly while I'm gone.  I am kind of a control freak by nature, so not being there knowing what is going on is a nightmare for me and I am positive I get on my wife's nerves by calling so much throughout the day :)

 

Annabel has been doing so good and her 2am fussy spells are tailing off a bit and they've turned into 6am fussy spells.  We're hoping this will allow for better sleep at night. 

 

As for her overall health, the only additional thing we've noticed is what sounds like nasal congestion.  It happens at night and into the early morning and we're keeping a close eye on it.  We will be asking the pediatrician on Thursday if it's any cause for concern. 

 

Oh, and a wonderful mom of a T18 baby in New York sent us dozens of enternal feeding tubes that are ideal for pediatric patients.  The ones we have on hand are too long and get caught up in her clothes, arms and even her feet!  We're excited to switch it out tomorrow when nurse Kerri comes back to visit Annabel.  Then on June 11, we have our first appointment with the feeding therapist to work on building up Annabel's stamina for bottle feeding. 

 

I'll be updating the blog tonight with some pictures from over the weekend and some of the photos taken by Tess Teeter, the volunteer Hospice photographer.