Is she not the cutest thing ever???
(And doesn't my new camera rock?!!)
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Mila at the Park!
We celebrated Mila's first birthday by taking her to the park yesterday... and we got to try out the new camera! We invited my dad and Blanca to come over and join us. Mila loved running wild!
Mila is one year old!
Dear Mila,
You are one year old today!!! I can't believe it. This year has just flown by all too fast. You've gone from a teeny little newborn, to a curious, blossoming little girl. I am so very happy today, reliving the day you were born, but it's also bittersweet. I love how much you've grown, I love all the "big girl" things you do now, but it makes it all too easy to see that you're a baby anymore. Each day, you look more and more like a little kid! I'll miss that tiny little baby girl, but I love to see you grow and learn!
Since this past month has been the holiday season, we've had the Christmas tree up and you're in awe of it... you like to reach for the ornaments and the lights. It's so cute to watch.
You still have a bit of separation anxiety, although it's getting better. You don't really want other people other than Mommy or Daddy to hold you, but lately, you've really taken to your Tia Blanca. Seeing you two together is so sweet!
The funniest thing you started doing this month, is you like to store things under the couch now, LOL! You just put your toys under there, walk away, and then come running back to get them. It cracks us up!
You love to pick things up. The other day, we went to visit your daddy at work and the carpet there had this white speck pattern. You saw the specks and "picked them up" and handed them to me. So funny!
You've discovered your tongue too... you like to grab it an hold it. It's hilarious to watch, although since you like to touch everything, only God knows where your hands have been! Ewww! Haha!
You can clap now and wave... although for a while when you started waving, we got so excited that we clapped, cheering you on, and then suddenly you stopped waving - whenever we'd wave so you would wave back, you'd clap instead! Haha! So smart!
You still don't say too much, other than babbling here and there. You do say "da-da" but we're not sure if you know what it means yet. You seem to call both me and daddy that. Crossing my fingers that "ma-ma" or even some variation of it, is coming soon!
Eating is getting a bit better. You don't like to eat baby food that has chunks in it, but you love your crackers, cookies and your Mum-mums, but heaven forbid if there's a chunky bite in your pureed food! You'll spit it out and try to get it with your hands, making a huge mess. But you've eaten bread, cantaloupe and banana and even oatmeal cookies that I made and you seem to like them. It's progress!
Sleeping and napping have their good days and bad days, but for the most part, you take 2 naps a day and sleep pretty much through the night. We still rock you to sleep though, and at 20 pounds, you're getting heavier and heavier!
Now, my ABSOLUTE favorite thing you do now your Tia Blanca taught you while playing hide and seek with her Blackberry. You love that thing and she'd hide it and ask you, "Donde esta?" ("Where'd it go?") and she'd shrug and hold her hands out. Now you've picked it up and you do the gesture ALL THE TIME!
It's soooooooo cute! And it's so funny how it applies so well to so many situations. It's the universal sign for "What happened?", "I don't know" and my favorite, "It wasn't me!" You'll throw things off your high chair and shrug, "Donde esta?", you'll take a ball and throw it far and shrug, "Donde esta?", you'll loose track of a toy and you'll shrug, "Donde esta?" ... oh my goodness, how we have laughed! The other day you even said, "ta!" when you shrugged, as in, "Donde esTA?" We nearly died!
One year ago today... who would've known it would be the best day of my life? It was the day my sweet Mila was born. What a wonderful year! I'm so blessed you're mine! Happy first birthday to my sweet little girl!
I love you!
Your Mommy
You are one year old today!!! I can't believe it. This year has just flown by all too fast. You've gone from a teeny little newborn, to a curious, blossoming little girl. I am so very happy today, reliving the day you were born, but it's also bittersweet. I love how much you've grown, I love all the "big girl" things you do now, but it makes it all too easy to see that you're a baby anymore. Each day, you look more and more like a little kid! I'll miss that tiny little baby girl, but I love to see you grow and learn!
Since this past month has been the holiday season, we've had the Christmas tree up and you're in awe of it... you like to reach for the ornaments and the lights. It's so cute to watch.
You still have a bit of separation anxiety, although it's getting better. You don't really want other people other than Mommy or Daddy to hold you, but lately, you've really taken to your Tia Blanca. Seeing you two together is so sweet!
The funniest thing you started doing this month, is you like to store things under the couch now, LOL! You just put your toys under there, walk away, and then come running back to get them. It cracks us up!
You love to pick things up. The other day, we went to visit your daddy at work and the carpet there had this white speck pattern. You saw the specks and "picked them up" and handed them to me. So funny!
You've discovered your tongue too... you like to grab it an hold it. It's hilarious to watch, although since you like to touch everything, only God knows where your hands have been! Ewww! Haha!
You can clap now and wave... although for a while when you started waving, we got so excited that we clapped, cheering you on, and then suddenly you stopped waving - whenever we'd wave so you would wave back, you'd clap instead! Haha! So smart!
You still don't say too much, other than babbling here and there. You do say "da-da" but we're not sure if you know what it means yet. You seem to call both me and daddy that. Crossing my fingers that "ma-ma" or even some variation of it, is coming soon!
Eating is getting a bit better. You don't like to eat baby food that has chunks in it, but you love your crackers, cookies and your Mum-mums, but heaven forbid if there's a chunky bite in your pureed food! You'll spit it out and try to get it with your hands, making a huge mess. But you've eaten bread, cantaloupe and banana and even oatmeal cookies that I made and you seem to like them. It's progress!
Sleeping and napping have their good days and bad days, but for the most part, you take 2 naps a day and sleep pretty much through the night. We still rock you to sleep though, and at 20 pounds, you're getting heavier and heavier!
Now, my ABSOLUTE favorite thing you do now your Tia Blanca taught you while playing hide and seek with her Blackberry. You love that thing and she'd hide it and ask you, "Donde esta?" ("Where'd it go?") and she'd shrug and hold her hands out. Now you've picked it up and you do the gesture ALL THE TIME!
It's soooooooo cute! And it's so funny how it applies so well to so many situations. It's the universal sign for "What happened?", "I don't know" and my favorite, "It wasn't me!" You'll throw things off your high chair and shrug, "Donde esta?", you'll take a ball and throw it far and shrug, "Donde esta?", you'll loose track of a toy and you'll shrug, "Donde esta?" ... oh my goodness, how we have laughed! The other day you even said, "ta!" when you shrugged, as in, "Donde esTA?" We nearly died!
One year ago today... who would've known it would be the best day of my life? It was the day my sweet Mila was born. What a wonderful year! I'm so blessed you're mine! Happy first birthday to my sweet little girl!
I love you!
Your Mommy
Monday, January 3, 2011
New Baby: Canon Rebel T2i
Can I tell you how wonderful my sweet husband is? He surprised me today with a present for my birthday... THE BEST PRESENT.... EVER.
I had already told him he didn't have to get anything - we're on a budget and we'd already invested in a new computer earlier this year, so I was fine with just a nice, quiet evening and a nice dinner. But not only did he surprise me with a birthday party today, but today he gave me the most wonderful gift - it was totally unexpected! He got me my dream camera!!!!! Can I tell you I've been pining for a DSLR camera for a long time... but especially now that we have Mila and that there are so many moments I want to capture! And not only did he get me my dream camera, the Canon Rebel T2i, he also got me a kick-ass lens, the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8! Oh, I am in HEAVEN!
I'm soooooo excited! I told him he's covered for the next 5 years with this gift - it's truly the sweetest, most amazing gift ever!
Watch out people - my blog is about to get a hellava lot prettier with this camera! :)))))
I had already told him he didn't have to get anything - we're on a budget and we'd already invested in a new computer earlier this year, so I was fine with just a nice, quiet evening and a nice dinner. But not only did he surprise me with a birthday party today, but today he gave me the most wonderful gift - it was totally unexpected! He got me my dream camera!!!!! Can I tell you I've been pining for a DSLR camera for a long time... but especially now that we have Mila and that there are so many moments I want to capture! And not only did he get me my dream camera, the Canon Rebel T2i, he also got me a kick-ass lens, the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm F/2.8! Oh, I am in HEAVEN!
I'm soooooo excited! I told him he's covered for the next 5 years with this gift - it's truly the sweetest, most amazing gift ever!
Watch out people - my blog is about to get a hellava lot prettier with this camera! :)))))
My Surprise 30th Birthday Playdate!
I'd been avoiding thinking too much about my birthday this year. With all of Mila's first birthday party planning, I honestly kept forgetting that my birthday was coming up too. And it was better that way too - especially considering that I didn't want to think about turning 30 this year. Yep, 30.... sheesh. I remember being a teenager and thinking 30 was sooooo old! And now being a mom - yikes! I'm somebody's mom?? And I'm 30? Yeah... there's no fighting it anymore. I'm an adult. Ok - vent over. I gotta just pretend it's not there and lock this up in the storage part of my brain until my next birthday, where I can pretend it's not there again.
In any case, I hadn't planned on doing anything special. My actual birthday was yesterday, but we had Mila's party yesterday, so it was her day. I remember when I was pregnant that she was due on the 7th of January, and I knew there was a chance she could come a few days early and I really didn't want her to be born on my birthday. I want her to have her own day! Not to have to share it with her mom. It should be hers. And then of course, comes this year where her birthday falls on a Tuesday and the only day we didn't already have plans so we can have a birthday party would be on my birthday. Figures! But I made sure that the day was about her. In any case - you stop counting after 30 right? I don't need to celebrate my birthday anymore!
But my sweet, wonderful husband had other plans... today we talked about going to a nice restaurant for lunch. He said we had to leave the house by noon because we had a reservation but Mila was still napping. We ended up having to wake her up and we rushed out the door. As we're making our way to the elevator to go downstairs, he tells me that the building manager called and said the meeting room where we're going to have a birthday playdate for Mila on Sunday has a problem. He said not to freak out, that he saw it and it wasn't a big deal, but he wanted me to take a look at it. Oh jeez... I'm freaking out anyway! I had been planning Mila's party for so long and had put so much work into it! My head was spinning - what was wrong? Was there a broken window? A leak in the ceiling? A giant stain on the rug? The fridge is broken? The AC is broken? The electricity is out??? He keeps telling me it's not a big deal and as we approach the door I'm still freaking out... and when he opens it, I couldn't believe it! Heike and Audrey, Spencer and Bijou, Virginia and Ben, Vanessa and Julian... our Mommy friends were there! It was a surprise birthday playdate for me! I couldn't believe it! Jorge had called Spencer and with Blanca they put the whole thing together. It was soooooooo thoughtful. I've never had a surprise party before. Nikki and Taylor arrived a little bit later and joined us too. I was just in awe! So nice of everyone to come! Jorge knows how much I love my mommy friends and our playdates. It was just so sweet and wonderful. It was really the best birthday ever. :)))
In any case, I hadn't planned on doing anything special. My actual birthday was yesterday, but we had Mila's party yesterday, so it was her day. I remember when I was pregnant that she was due on the 7th of January, and I knew there was a chance she could come a few days early and I really didn't want her to be born on my birthday. I want her to have her own day! Not to have to share it with her mom. It should be hers. And then of course, comes this year where her birthday falls on a Tuesday and the only day we didn't already have plans so we can have a birthday party would be on my birthday. Figures! But I made sure that the day was about her. In any case - you stop counting after 30 right? I don't need to celebrate my birthday anymore!
But my sweet, wonderful husband had other plans... today we talked about going to a nice restaurant for lunch. He said we had to leave the house by noon because we had a reservation but Mila was still napping. We ended up having to wake her up and we rushed out the door. As we're making our way to the elevator to go downstairs, he tells me that the building manager called and said the meeting room where we're going to have a birthday playdate for Mila on Sunday has a problem. He said not to freak out, that he saw it and it wasn't a big deal, but he wanted me to take a look at it. Oh jeez... I'm freaking out anyway! I had been planning Mila's party for so long and had put so much work into it! My head was spinning - what was wrong? Was there a broken window? A leak in the ceiling? A giant stain on the rug? The fridge is broken? The AC is broken? The electricity is out??? He keeps telling me it's not a big deal and as we approach the door I'm still freaking out... and when he opens it, I couldn't believe it! Heike and Audrey, Spencer and Bijou, Virginia and Ben, Vanessa and Julian... our Mommy friends were there! It was a surprise birthday playdate for me! I couldn't believe it! Jorge had called Spencer and with Blanca they put the whole thing together. It was soooooooo thoughtful. I've never had a surprise party before. Nikki and Taylor arrived a little bit later and joined us too. I was just in awe! So nice of everyone to come! Jorge knows how much I love my mommy friends and our playdates. It was just so sweet and wonderful. It was really the best birthday ever. :)))
Toddler This Week: 12 Months, Week 1
Your baby has hit the 1-year mark: Happy birthday! Many view the first birthday as the toddler turning point. Others consider your baby a toddler as soon as he starts walking — or, as the case may be, taking his first tentative steps. However and whenever he crosses the line into toddlerhood, it's a bittersweet transition — you miss your little baby even as you delight in your amazing child.
Many children take their first steps sometime between 9 and 12 months and are walking well by the time they're 14 or 15 months old. But don't worry if your child hasn't let go of the coffee table yet. It's also perfectly normal for kids not to take that first step until they're 15 or 16 months, or even later.
Encourage both cruising and walking by giving your child lots of opportunities to move without help and by not picking him up and carrying him too often. You can encourage a tentative walker by arranging furniture so there are safe and convenient handholds all along his path. Remove any dangers he might grab on to, such as a dangling tablecloth or electrical cord.
If your child is trying to toddle, he might feel more secure if he can hang on to one of your fingers, or if he puts his hands in the air and you walk behind him, holding his hands. A push toy provides walking practice, too. Just make sure it's stable and has a wide, secure base.
Two walking aids you don't need: walkers (the American Academy of Pediatrics says they're unsafe and actually discourage kids from learning to walk) and shoes in the house. Bare feet, socks, or the popular soft-bottomed "baby shoes" help a beginning walker practice balance and coordination. Reserve real shoes for protecting your toddlers' feet outdoors.
- BabyCenter.com
Many children take their first steps sometime between 9 and 12 months and are walking well by the time they're 14 or 15 months old. But don't worry if your child hasn't let go of the coffee table yet. It's also perfectly normal for kids not to take that first step until they're 15 or 16 months, or even later.
Encourage both cruising and walking by giving your child lots of opportunities to move without help and by not picking him up and carrying him too often. You can encourage a tentative walker by arranging furniture so there are safe and convenient handholds all along his path. Remove any dangers he might grab on to, such as a dangling tablecloth or electrical cord.
If your child is trying to toddle, he might feel more secure if he can hang on to one of your fingers, or if he puts his hands in the air and you walk behind him, holding his hands. A push toy provides walking practice, too. Just make sure it's stable and has a wide, secure base.
Two walking aids you don't need: walkers (the American Academy of Pediatrics says they're unsafe and actually discourage kids from learning to walk) and shoes in the house. Bare feet, socks, or the popular soft-bottomed "baby shoes" help a beginning walker practice balance and coordination. Reserve real shoes for protecting your toddlers' feet outdoors.
- BabyCenter.com
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Mila's First Birthday Party
Since Mila's birthday falls on a Tuesday, we decided to throw Mila a little birthday party with my mom and my mom's family in Miami today. The theme was pinwheels and kites! Here are the invitations I made:
My uncle Ricky and aunt Martha were so wonderful and let us host it at their house. They were amazing in helping us decorate and helping us set up. My sister Cathy made Mila's cake... isn't it adorable? Totally fits the theme! Everything came out beautiful and we had a great time. And Mila got to eat some cake too! What a great party!
My uncle Ricky and aunt Martha were so wonderful and let us host it at their house. They were amazing in helping us decorate and helping us set up. My sister Cathy made Mila's cake... isn't it adorable? Totally fits the theme! Everything came out beautiful and we had a great time. And Mila got to eat some cake too! What a great party!
Cathy and I made the flowers for the cupcakes
Cathy's cake came out so beautiful! I love how simple it is. Classic. And the kite - love it!
My mom with my uncle Rafa
My grandmother
Ricky, Martha with Jorge, Mila and I
With my mom and Cathy
"Happy birthday to Mila!"
Yummy cake!
It was great celebrating with my mom and the family. We had a really nice time. We're planning another party for next Sunday too - this one is more of a playdate with Mila's friends. I know, I know -- it sounds crazy to have two parties, but it's really better this way. My family is in Miami so it's more convenient for this one to be down there, for one. And two, they all want to spend time with Mila! If there are other babies there, she's going to want to play with her friends! Besides, this way, it's two small parties, instead of one giant one and I'll actually get to spend time with family and friends. So we get to do this all over again next weekend! I know, I drive myself crazy too sometimes. Luckily, I haven't gone so crazy as to plan 2 different themes for the parties - so I'll be using the same decorations and same menu. Whew! I've been planning and working so hard on these two parties these last few weeks! As much as I love party planning and I've been looking forward to Mila's parties, I'll be relieved when it's over and we can just focus on playtime! :)))
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Happy 2011!
Dearest Family and Friends,
Many blessings, joy and laughter for you all in 2011! Thank you all for reading and being a part of this journey! I look forward to keeping you updated on how Mila continues to grow and learn, and all the things Jorge and I discover about ourselves and about parenthood along the way. Thank you for sharing our adventure.
xoxo,
Connie, Jorge and Mila
Many blessings, joy and laughter for you all in 2011! Thank you all for reading and being a part of this journey! I look forward to keeping you updated on how Mila continues to grow and learn, and all the things Jorge and I discover about ourselves and about parenthood along the way. Thank you for sharing our adventure.
xoxo,
Connie, Jorge and Mila
Happy New Year!
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