1.8 plus tutu tumbling

Hellooo, we're on vacay for a little while and just in time to pick up the camera for stills and video of Vale as she's become quite the parrot and budding entertainer. She says words she's never said before on a daily basis and we have to listen carefully and even ask each other what she is saying because we know its a word, its something she wants, something she's heard us say before. Something important to her. Her favorite words (that we can identify at least) are parque, afuera, arriba, up, down, smoothie, dora, casco, bicicleta, backpack, ambre, juice, turtle, kiwi, beckham, queso, fresa, sandia, blueberry, Killacky, pintar, chanclitas, shoes, zapatos, 5,8,9,10, galletitas, nieve, rojo, verde, azul, amarillo, chicos, chicas, niños, niñas, señora, señor, patineta, sticker, pelo, perro, doggie, see you, hello, bye bye, ta ta, mas please, de nada, agua, keys, nariz, pies, mail, poppa, coche, brinca, caca, peepee...I'm hoping to try the potty training again this month...I think she's ready since she tells us when she's finished and usually wants her diaper changed except for when she doesn't cause sometimes she doesn't. I bought her a little doll that drinks water from a bottle and pees into a little potty to teacher her, her name is Annie and she has quickly become one of vale's favorite toys to play with especially the part where she gets to dump Annie's "peepee" in to the toilet and then flush it. Anyway, in other Vale news, this Thursday we took her to her second gymventures class where she gets to jump on a super long trampoline, walk the balance beam, and hang on the rings and parallel bars. The class is through the YMCA which Mr. K was nice enough to sign Vale up for (many thanks) and Vale just has the time of her life...Ms. Sandra, her teacher, is super sweet with the girls and even gives them stamps on their hands and feet after class which Vale makes sure to show us throughout the day. I can't wait till next Thursday!

p.s. it's hard not to notice the band-aid so here goes- She pulled a conga on to herself. There was lots of blood and one scary trip to the ER, stitches were avoided, a special glue used instead. In the end Vale walked out with a popsicle in one hand, stickers in the other with no tears in her eyes and hopefully with no memory of mommy and daddy holding her down in her already restricted board and all body wrap hold while the doctor cleaned and fixed her wound. We still haven't gotten a good look at what the healing is looking like since the glue is pretty thick but with all the lotions and home remedies I'm planning on using on her, I hope the scarring will be minimal, also, as my cousin's wife said- It could have been a lot worse, it could have hit her eye. Scary words but oh so true, and for that I'm thankful.

1.3

I couldn't decide which picture to use so in honor of her sitting nice and still for her picture I'll share them all! She steals our hearts on a regular basis with her cute words such as hi, love you, thank you, bah bye, mami, papi, her animal noises and very recently her growing range of facial expressions. She knows we love them and waits for our reaction before moving on to the next one. This week she debuted the "shy girl" and the "I want something" look and it's all fun and games until someone skips a nap and turns into a terrible two-er..oh man..Kevin and I are learning how to keep her tantrums at bay and how to discipline when needed. It hasn't been easy and leaves me very sad when we have to get strict with her but It's a necessary we're told. On a sweeter note, She has also started doing funny stuff such as wear mine and Kevin's shoes around the apartment. She wears mine backwards and on the wrong side but I swear I've never seen anything cuter, especially when she grabs her purse... We go on bike rides daily and Vale is no stranger to passing out our helmets and wanting us to wear them around the apartment. She loves wearing hers just for fun..during reading time, during play time...Vale wears her helmet..its hilarious! I was gonna keep this post just 1.3 but since I'm sharing her funny little baby habits I might as well include a few pictures :)

p.s. Outfit compliments of tita Kalani, shoes from my BFF Vanessa. Also, Kevin gave me a new canon lens for Christmas and I'm loooooving how bright and crisp the pictures look. :)

1.1

Vale is at a hilarious stage right now, one I don't want her to leave too soon...

favorite things to do:
blow kisses at people and plant them directly on cheek.
in a very beauty queen fashion wave when saying hello or goodbye
take all her clothes out of drawers and sometimes put it all back in
shower standing up in tub
play peek-a-boo
go bike riding
going outside to see the dogs and planes flying overhead
point at everything

favorite places to go:
zoo
garandpa and grandmas house/la casa de abuelita y abuelito
home
the park down the street
to see her buddy Joshie and his mom Vanessa


favorite books to read:
Biscuit by Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Cuando Sofia se enoja se enoja de veras by Molly Bang
A bañarse con Maisy by Lucy Cousins
Colors by Emily Bolam
Princess Potty by Samantha Berger
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Willems

favorite foods:
cheese
pan
fruits of all kids
veggies of every type
pasta
soup of any variety
anything, everything aka todo

out of her mouth:
agua pronounced ada
papa and dada
mama
ball
bebe
Animal noises-dog, elephant, lion, cat, duck, parrot, pig, cow, polar bear

oh girl, 11 months today!

The official countdown has begun, Valentina is a month away from the big ol' 1!!! Are you coming to her b-day fiesta on Saturday September 24th? Well here is your invite if you were waiting for one :) Lots of planning is underway...from the food, to the entertainment, we're getting lots of help from everywhere which is so greatly appreciated! Now, if only we knew someone who could make a delicious cake...Any lovely readers from say oh the OC area wanna make a b-day cake? :) If you have any b-day ideas to share or want to help out in ANY way, hit us up!

Vale is a walkin', talkin' grubbin' happy baby to say the least. I won't even attempt the list of things she likes to eat, anything we're eating, she's eating too! She splits her mode of transport 50/50, but everyday that passes she walks longer distances with less of a drunk girl wobble. I'm pretty sure she's thinking of leaving the crawl very soon :( I better video tape it before its too late. She empties her clothes drawers like she's preppin for a photo shoot, she loves putting stuff in boxes, she thinks sneezing is hilarious, and is ticklish to no end, a block or lego tower has to be destroyed immediately, and diaper changes are evil! Oh girl, you're almost not a baby anymore, in fact, now that you're walking I think you're a toddler!

She has a tiny cold and wasn't very smily this morning for her monthly photo, I tried the biscuit, no success, tried Eli (her chosen favorite toy, I was rooting for rosita, but nope) he was thrown overboard. At least she looked cute!




Thought I'd throw in a few happy Vale pictures from this weekend. One of her favorite treats are frozen blueberries by the dozen. Yum!






Stay tuned for a little more blogging this month. maybe a birthing story a year later...maybe a video a year in the making, maybe some mommy insight on all things first year!

Perfect 10

Now this is more like it! it just struck me, that she'll only be posing for 2 more of these monthly pictures, unless we become those parents (and we just might) that keep track of their child's age in months up until they are 24 months...ooopppssss, I just did it, I mean 2 years! yikes....It drives me a little nuts when I ask a babies age and the response is 18 months.. Can't you just do the math for us and say 1 1/2 years???

Anyway, all that aside, here is a proper picture of Vale at 10 months. I let her keep her teething biscuit since I thought she'd sit patiently, and it totally worked. She's looking very content, and is it just me or is there a trace of mischief in her smile?

Happy Diez!

I don't want the day to go by without posting a picture of Vale at 10 months, even if it's not the usual monthly pose..you see, she's sick..She ran a fever from Sunday through Wednesday, and right when the fever had finally subsided, she broke out in a rash, all over her sweet, chubby body. We took her to the docs and she has roseola, a little virus, harmless really, except for the scary fever, and the crabby baby, and the itchy red spots, and the poor appetite. Our poor little baby. There's nothing we can do for her though, just wait it out. I think she was happy to hear she'd be better soon because right after the docs she was instantly in a slightly better mood. I took a couple pictures of her face, but not sure if I'll share, they make me sad and I don't think I want to look at them everyday.

These pictures however I can stare at all day, I'm pretty sure I'm not supposed to let her stand this close to the t.v. but since she watches about an hour (at most) of tv per week of baby einstein I figure she'll be okay. I should add that she really only stands this close for the first 2 minutes of the video, so there, I'm not a horrible mom-on this occasion at least ;)

Feliz 9!

Vale turned 9 months yesterday! She's not walking yet but she: gives kisses, waves, plays catch w Kevin, speed crawls, stands w assistance, walks w assistance, laughs at funny things, mimics our facial expressions, eats home made pizza, loves sunglasses, can't wait to get in the pool/water, won't sit still, can stay awake past 8, craves frozen anything, likes to nap in stroller, loooves dogs, adores strangers, hates diaper changes, and lastly she wants a cell phone and wallet of her own to chew whenever she pleases :)

Here are a couple outtakes, in case you're wondering how I get her to sit so still, I don't. :)


p.s. Don't you love how her feet look the same size as her head...???

8 meses

She picked out her own outfit, I had a selection for Kevin and I to deliberate over when Vale casually crawled over and picked up and started chewing the items you see in this picture. Well problem resolved.

she's sick in this picture, but through the magic of procrastination, she is now 90% all better since this was taken on the 29th!

She's crawling, standing up on stuff, doing the back arch when I take away something she shouldn't be playing with, such as the computer charger (ruined) the car keys (nasty) my phone (propensity for water damage), her parents shoes (nastier), She's even learned the word "no" making this the second word she very noticably reacts to, second to "leche". She gets a no, no, no when she tries to follow us into the kitchen or restroom. I think this makes her want to go in even more.

She eats blueberries, grapes, cherries, watermelon and mango either in her mesh baggie or in small pieces ALL DAY LONG. Mango especially makes her hyperventilate, and at 5 mangos for a buck, she's a cheap date.

Happy 8 months you purple faced, conga playing, back arching, moco faced, happy, laughing baby, we love ya to the moon and back.

SEVEN MONTHS

here are the v-facts:
-17 lbs
-sits up like a pro
-can get into crawl position and even take a little knee or two forward but would rather drag, kick roll and shimmy her way from attraction to attraction.
-Can ALMOST sit on her own from being on her stomach.
-has eaten apple, banana, pear, mango, apricot, papaya, potato, spinach, carrot, broccoli, yams, sweet potato, zucchini, and tomorrow she'll have rhubarb, too tart for me, but maybe she'll love it.
-loves her mommy and daddy, says dada, but not mama :(
-loves peek a boo and free fall

6 meses

little baby girl,
We love you hundreds of lifetimes worth and we've only known you a mere 6 months. Your laugh is infectious, your cries heartbreaking, you're so generous with your smile. One of my favorite parts of the day is when you wake up from your nap, I always run into the room so you don't wake up alone....I'm always so happy that you're happy to see me, you smile and chuckle and look at me with recognition, it makes my heart hurt every time. I'm in awe everyday of my life that daddy and I get to be your parents for the rest of our lives, I wonder sometimes if there's been a mistake, if Dad and I are only still kids going to college in different cities, completely unaware of each other. But nope, you're real and you're half a year old today..very soon, that roll that you perform all over the living room will be a crawl..and all that baby chatter will be words. I wonder what you'll say first..will it be in Spanish or English?....I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Happy 5 months Valentina

My dear sweet girl how fast you are growing

Vale turned three months yesterday!

here's a picture I've been snapping on the 29th of each month. Her beanie baby is named Valentina too! great gift tita Kristin

2nd month

1st month

Happy two months mi Vale

Ahhh fatherhood, the natural high. I tell ya, there really isn't anything better than the feeling I get from showing off Vale. I don't know how she feels about the whole thing, but when people are all like, "Oooohhh my gosh, she's so cute (and the pitch of their voices get higher with every syllable)," I'm totes on cloud nueve. Yup, dad-hood is pretty cool ;{