My day with Abuela and Abuelo (as told by Nadia)...

This morning my mommy and daddy had to attend a meeting at church so that I can be baptised. I couldn't to go with them because Mommy and Daddy told me no babies allowed! They dropped me off at Abuela and Abuelo's house very very very early. It was so early I hadn't even had my first bottle yet and I still had my pj's on! They just took my right out of my crib- plopped me in my carseat and drove me right over there! I don't think I've ever been out of my house that early in my entire life! Here are some pictures of how my day went:

Here's my Abuela and I right when I got dropped off. You see how hungry I looked? Someone warm up a bottle already!

Here I am with Abuelo. I love sitting on that guys lap. He has the most yummy tummy to cuddle up with!

We even did tummy time in that house! (Geeze- these people never give me a day off!)

Abuelo read me a story just like he used to read to my mommy when she was a baby!

I love being Nadia's mommy!

Tonight as I was putting Nadia to sleep, I felt this immense rush of love for her. I mean- the kind of feeling that's almost painful. I am absolutely, head of heels, in love with this baby. I know most of you are thinking, well, of course you love her, SHE'S YOUR BABY (I mean, that's what I would of thought if a mommy told me she was crazy in love with her kid)... But unless you are a mom, you really don't understand what I mean... (at least I didn't).

The day Nadia was born, I loved her. Here she was, the little person who had been growing inside my body, kicking me from the inside, jabbing at my ribs with her elbows. That day, (and for the first few days- no weeks actually), I loved her because she WAS my baby and I was supposed to love her.

Today though- the love is different. Today, I love Nadia because she is Nadia. The more I have her and the more I get to know her, I fall more and more in love. I love the look she gives me when I walk up to her crib in the morning (it's kind of a look out of the corner of her eyes). I love the way she smiles and all you see are her gums! I love the way she yells at me when she wants my attention. I love the way she kicks her legs when she's riding in her stroller. I love the way she reaches out her hands and tries to hold her bottle when I'm feeding her and recently, (and this is by far the best) when I'm carrying her in my arms, she looks up at me, reaches out her hands and TOUCHES MY FACE. It's like she knows I love her and she's actually trying to tell me she loves me back!

The first few weeks I had Nadia, everyone would tell me- "Enjoy her- they grow so fast." "Being a mother is the best feeling in the world" "It's great isn't it?" And part of me would wonder what the heck they were talking about! I wasn't having fun! I wanted her to grow up and start sleeping at night. I wanted her to be sturdy. I wanted the time to go by faster. A few times I even wondered, what did I get myself in to?!?! I can honestly say- I now know what they were talking about now. Being a mother IS the best feeling in the world.

The love I feel for Nadia makes me look at my mom differently. I was her first baby and it's incredible to me that she loved me (and still does love me) as much as I love Nadia. Like seriously- I knew she loved me, but WOW- my mom really really really loves me!

I'm sorry I've gotten all mushy, but I really love being Nadia's mommy. I feel blessed to have been given this beautiful baby girl and I thank God for her every night I lay her in her crib to sleep.

Welcome to the world Cousin Max!

We are excited to announce that yesterday, March 5, at 1:15am, Nadia received a BABY COUSIN named Max. We've waited a long time for Max to arrive to this world. Nadia has actually been waiting her entire life (all of almost 4 months)! Max is absolutely adorable and actually has a full head of hair! He looks like a little doll. Max belongs to Laz's cousin Jose, and his other half, Damy. I cannot wait for the future when Max and Nadia can play together. WELCOME TO THE WORLD COUSIN MAX!

Before there was Nadia...

...there was Esme and Mischa, my yorkshire terriers. Esme is 4 years old. She's my big girl and first baby. For my 25th birthday, Laz surprised me with Mischa who I always joke we got as a pet for Esme! My girls (that's what I call them) have brought lots of joy to my life. Laz works a lot and Esme and Mischa have always been my loyal companions. As I tidy up my house, I have the pitter patter of little doggie feet following me around. While I shower, I have two doggies laying in the bathroom waiting patiently for me to finish. When I sit on the couch to watch tv, their furry bodies provide me with warmth.

I was absolutely over the top in love with my girls, and still am, although (sadly for them) the love is not the same as it was before there was Nadia. I am sad to admit, (but will) that their regular feeding schedule is no longer (I think one night we actually forgot), sometimes their bowl runs out of water, I forget to let them outside to do their thing and my top premium dog food puppies now eat house food when I run out of dog food (this NEVER happened before).

I really still do love my girls and we have experienced some very sweet moments together since the baby arrived. Sometimes when I have Nadia on my lap, Esme and Mischa come cuddle up alongside us. Oh! And there was that time when Esme brought Nadia a toy and dropped it next to her waiting for her to play. Then there are other moments when I have Nadia on my lap and Esme and Mischa decide it's time to play tug-o-war right next to us...

The dogs showed an interest in Nadia from day 1, ESPECIALLY ESME. Over the past few days, Nadia actually started showing an interest in them too! She follows them around the house with her eyes and actually just started reaching out to touch them this week. Mischa runs away when Nadia's fingers start coming in her direction, Esme on the other hand, LOVES the attention.

Today while I was trying to feed Nadia her bottle, she stopped sucking and gave me a huge smile. I thought that sweet smile was all for me until I realized one of her socks had come off and Esme was licking her toes!

Here we are just a few days after arriving home from the hospital...

And here we are now... (I could not get the three of them in one picture together! I really tried!)

"Wow! That's one big baby!"

I'm sure you've already realized I have a BIG baby. Strangers are always shocked when I tell them how old she is and I always get the same response "Pero, parece que tiene seis meses!" (That's Spanish for, that kid looks like she's six months old!) I actually LOVE that my child was born big. Fragile tiny infants just aren't my thing and I'm happy that when I received Nadia she was already a little sturdier than most newborns.

Nadia is now sporting 6-9 month old clothing. Today I had to move down to the next size of clothing in her drawers and pack away the outfits that no longer fit. The whole thing is bittersweet and I found myself getting very mushy looking at all the little clothes that seemed so big at the time and now I can not pull them enough so that they snap under her tushy! Nadia is growing and she's doing it really fast!

Tonight while I was bathing Nadia it occurred to me that I'm going to have to find a new way to bathe her very soon. Nadia is about to outgrow her infant bathtub (which is probably designed to hold a kid until 6 months). Check out Nadia in her bathtub at 2 weeks and check out what she looked like during her bath tonight. You see what I'm talking about?

(We had to draw a bikini bottom on that first picture so daddy would let us post it.)

My Bouncing Baby Girl!

While I was pregnant so many people told me I needed to get this and I needed to have that... One of my I gotta haves was a jumperoo, so we registered for the Rainforest one by Fisher Price (as a side note- I wish I had registered for entire Rainforest set. Nadia loves the Rainforest things we do have more than anything else). Anyhow, that thing looked like so much fun, I wanted to take it out of the box as soon as I got it home from my baby shower! The box said the recommended age is 4 months and once Nadia arrived to the world I realized she wasn't going to be jumping in anything for a while. I patiently waited and waited and waited until Nadia was old enough to use this great toy.

A week ago, while visiting Nadia's friend Abby, we noticed Abby's jumperoo and decided to give it a try. Well, that Nadia showed me! Forget waiting 2 weeks until she turned 4 months old, my kid was ready TODAY! I quickly dialed up Lazaro and told him to pick up that jumperoo from my mom's house (that's where we store stuff we aren't using) and bring it straight home. The next morning I put that puppy together and in she went... I'll let you decide for yourself what she thinks about it!

We had to put a pillow under her feet since she's a bit too short right now (umm yea- look at those thighs)!

Daddy Day: The BEST day of the week!

In my family (the one I was born to) we called Sundays, "Family Day." My dad was (and still is) all about family togetherness and I know I want to give the same to Nadia. So I've continued the tradition in our house, only instead of calling Sunday's "Family Day", I like to call them "Daddy Day!" It's the one day of the week Nadia and I get to spend every single minute with Laz from the moment we wake up to the moment it's time to go to sleep. This Sunday in particular was an extra special one because we scheduled a make-up session of Gymboree for today just so daddy could join us and see what all the fuss is about! (You have to understand, I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Gymboree and I actually think Nadia does too!)

Daddy was able to sit near us and get some pictures of Nadia in all the action. (I guess now is the time to tell you that every great picture you see on this blog will be taken by me. Laz is not the best photographer and for that reason, you'll probably see very little (if any) good pictures of me posted. Oh well... )

After Gymboree we headed to The Falls and strolled around the shops. We were feeling very brave so we decided to try Nadia at a movie... Boy, oh boy were we impressed. Nadia was awake for most of the show. She sat on my lap, leaned back and actually seemed to enjoy the movie! For some parts she decided she wanted to "talk" to the screen and we had to remind her that talking during a movie isn't polite (It was Confessions of a Shopaholic, by the way). The whole experience reminded us (once again) that we have one cool kid!

The day ended with a nice and relaxing Margarita filled dinner at On the Border (margaritas for ME, not the baby silly!) Nadia was a bit cranky as it was a little past her bedtime, so I pretty much had to hold her paci in her mouth throughout dinner (I'll do whatever it takes to keep my munchkin happy!) Although we were an hour past bedtime, she did a great job at holding it together until the check came. Once again, I was super impressed by Nadia... two times in one day!