Belated - 8 months.

Well they say better late then never. Since this month was full of milestones for my little girl I decided to do a post to honor that, even though it is a bit late and she's eight and half months old.
Her character is really showing now, don't be fooled by the pictures. This lady knows what she wants.


This month she took her first trip out of the country.
She got two more new pearly whites, the top ones.
She got weened, that was a biggie for her, and started eating a lot more solids.
She fell of her crib for the first time.
She started standing by herself.
She can go up the stairs alone.
The fascination of the month is toothbrushes, toilets and garbage cans.
Her favorite place this month is the bathroom.
Her favorite foods are tomatoes, apples, bananas, yogurt and papaya. Her favorite drink, juice. Her favorite drink not allowed, beer.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Travels and this n that.

Shame on me !! I haven't posted since November 4th., I even missed Ayleen 's monthly post... what a shame ...I'll have to make up for that lost post and post a belated one. I have some cute pictures I want to upload and I'll be getting to it soon, pinky promise!

That was in the middle of the desert somewhere, I think close to Torreon.

My happy little trouper, taking a brake from her car seat.

The Lord has done many awesome things for me personally this past week or two, for which I'm really grateful... I know I'm spoiled...heh. I really ain't a good writer, that, coupled with lack of time is gonna leave you, dear friend, with just maybe a few highlights... and some pics , of course.

We had an appointment in Ciudad Juarez for some important paperwork, the Lord so sweetly worked it out that at the same time we were there, two other family couples were there also doing the same paperwork,which was a a big blessing as far as fellowship, prayer power and also very inspiring and fun. Big thanks to the home there for being so sweet and going out of their way to make sure we were accommodated well.
Ayleen was a very good girl and did fine the whole two day trip.
Poor baby had to get weaned because I had to get a few vaccines... like six... which made me sick as a dog, but even that was a blessing in disguised cause it forced me to go slow and not overdue it. After that we crossed to El Paso and then on to San Antonio, Brownsville and then home .
I missed my boys so much. Came seven in the evening, when it's usually parent time it felt like something was missing, they were such little troupers . It was the first time I was away from them for more then three days.


My little guerita: Ok I can't stand this any more!!

Family.

This is one of the few pictures of our family. It takes time to be a family, to weave the tapestry of memories, experiences and feelings that create the uniqueness of each family, it's so worth the time invested.
Take time to love those you love for they will not always be by your side and always treasure the gift family is, don't let the little annoyances of life get in the way of showing your true feelings. Love truly is the most important thing. Perfection, oh well.... nice thought.
Hasta la vista!

7 months

Seven months old. How you've grown my sweet little bundle of love. You've done a lot of "firsts" this past month. I'm so proud of you. You already have two little pearly white teeth. You love playing with your brothers, and cars are among your favorite toys. You can already stand on your fours and wiggle and scoot all over the place. You eat a meal a day and love apples and bananas.
You are growing so much; now you weight 10.450 kg.

Precious

Look close.

After many long and painful hours. Ayleen got her first tooth on October 2nd. Trying to take pictures of it was a trip and a half, sorry about the bad lighting, it was dark , shady and cloudy.
But if you look close you 'll see her little tooth- ok, maybe if you look really closely.
It is there-I promise!.:)

Hugs

A simple hug softens our heart;
it gives us a warm welcome and makes life a little brighter.

It's a way of sharing your hopes and happiness
and also the inevitable moments filled with sadness.

It's just a simple way of telling our friends
that we love them and care for them,
because hugs were made to be given to those we love.

A hug is something great.

It's the perfect way to show the love we feel
when we just can't find the right words.

For these reasons and more ...today I send you my warmest hug .... so that you can feel better.

Give a hug to someone today... you might just make their day. And they'll understand, because no matter the language, age or country ... we can all relate to a heart felt hug.

Don't let this be you:


( -Hug me. - I...can't!)

I always did like Snoopy, he's just so hugable!!( I 'm not sure that's a word:)but if you know me, you already knew that. And if you didn't know it, now you do.
Smile. Jesus love you, and I do too:)

La Gordis.

Esta preciosidad de hija tiene muchos nombres, pero ultimamente de carino la llamamos La Gordis y se le ha pegado el nombre. Esta Gordis es bien coqueta, en esta foto esta posando y haciendo ojitos a la camara, aunque reservando su sonrisa para otra persona mas merecedora. Ultimamente anda bien molesta con eso de los dientes y anda con las manos en las encias y mordiendo de todo, aunque dudo muchisimo que le vayan a brotar esas preciadas perlitas blancas en algun momento del futuro no muy lejano. Ya se sienta sola y hasta se quisiera levantar si su cuerpito lo permitiera , mientras tanto, todo se queda en un curiosito meneo del torso, brazos y espalda, como si quisiera volar. Todo a su tiempo Gordis!.

Happy BirthdayJesse.

Jesse turned 14 . Big boy...he got taller then me about a year and a half ago, sob!I know....I'm pretty short, he felt very proud of it at the time.
I've lived with Jesse since he was 8, I've seen him grow, learn, laugh , cry.. and everything else.
He's a very sweet kid, I pray you have the best year yet Jesse. I love you.


And here's a couple pics of me, the firt one just so stay nice and humble, caught unaware talking with someone.

Sunday.

Witnessing time ...


... and yet another face paint.

Viva Mexico !

" Ha sonado la hora de nuestra libertad; y si conoceis su gran valor me ayudareis a defenderla"

In the night of the 15th of September and early morning on of the 16th, Mexico celebrates his Independence Day.
A hundred and ninety seven years ago Miguel Hidalgo, a very educated priest, rallied the people of his small town to fight for their freedom from the Spanish governement, only 30 people joined him the first time the bell rang, many more joined after.
The people were poor, peasants, servants and slaves that had to do the work in the mines and the fields.




I really like history and this priest was quite the man:
It takes an educated man to start a Revolution.
He was no ignorant; he spoke French, Italian, Latin and four indigenous languages.
He had five kids.
One of the first things he did was abolish slavery in what was named the New Spain (Mexico).
He was decapitaded shortly after starting the movement of Independence, the soldier that did it got paid 20 pesos( 2usd) for it.
There's a state in Mexico named after him; Hidalgo.
Others continued on with the mission, their fight for freedom lasted 11 years.
He's considered " El Padre de la Patria".(basiclly the father of the country)
Knowing the magnitude of what he was starting and very conscience of the risks he sayd:

"Los autores de semejantes empresas no gozan del fruto de ellas"

( the authors of such investments don't enjoy the fruit of them )
I guess he knew that what he was doing was for a brighter future. No country should be slave of another.
I think Mexico is one of those country you either really like or don't like at all; for me it was pretty much love at first sight and I'm still totally in love with it today.
So today I drank some tequila for Mexico, lindo y querido. Cheers!!

Dumbo

You know how small kids and even babies have a little confort thing that they do, it could be anything from playing with their hair while they go to sleep, sucking their thumb or having to touch their mother's face while they nurse.
Alex has always had an affair with his ears. Since he was very small he would touch and play with his ear to go to sleep or relax, he wouldn't pull on them or anything like that, just run his fingers through it. Even though I constantly correct him for it and told him all the horrible things that could happen to his ear like fall off or break , I would never tell him things like he was gonna get big ugly ears and all that the other kids would make fun of him, because I didn't want him to get any kind of complex about his ears.
Dumbo is one of his favourite movies. There's something very touching about that little elephant with his big blue eyes and huge ears.
A few days ago Alex was fiddleling with his ear again so I told him that they were gonna get big and ugly if he kept touching them. His enthusiastic reply was:
-Mom, that would be super cool because then, I can fly!!!
-Humm, not quite Alex!.

Cozy

Sand boxes can keep my children entertained for hours at a time. Their favourite park in the city has one. For family day we planned carefully to go there trying hard to beat the afternoon rain, so we went in the morning, sounds simple enough but it's quite the ordeal to go out anywere by myself with the kids, stroller, diapper bags, water lets just say it takes carefull thought and planning. Just when Igot my license, our car so happens to not be home. So it's buses, walking and ocasional taxis. Beeing the unafraid, independent person I am, transportation is no obstacle for going places and doing things. So family day was a succes. TTL!

I took advantage of local technology and used this sarape to carry Ayleen aroud, so much more uncomplicated then carrying the stroller everywhere. It was surprisingly confortable and she had a good almost two hour nap in it . She looked so cozy in there. The last picture is of her while napping.