So, last Sunday we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of ole' me becoming a MOTHER, my mom becoming a GRAND mother, my dad becoming a GRAND pap, and the least affectionate guy in this world… became a fuzzy teddy bear (yeah, im talking about daddy…).
But most importantly, the birth of the most gorgeous, amazing, beautifully smart, incredible, loving little girl I have ever seen in my entire life. This creature is so unbelievable….. i still catch myself spacing out just staring at her while she's peacefully playing by herself, or running around like a maniac after the cat, or sleeping right next to daddy in bed.
I cannot get over the feeling of extreme pride, even when she throws industrial amounts of horrendously high-decibeled-ear-piercing-purple-turning temper tantrums.

I absolutely love this kid……

This KID.

Not a baby anymore,…. she's a kid aaaaaall the way now. She communicates what she feels, she tells me she loves me, she tells me she doesn't like my cooking, she tells me she wants to play with her doggie, that she doesn't appreciate bath time, that she has to go 'poo poo' (careless to whomever happens to be around and take a listen), that she likes to go shopping, and to the jungle gym…. that she doesn't wanna share her pieces of cheese with her daddy, and that she played with Brianna (everyday) at school.
She just amazes me how she can add up things now. Her logic is so advanced and complex now. When she has a toy in one hand and picks up another with her other hand, she says 'mamma! i got two toys now!' and so on if she keeps adding toys to her collection.
She counts in spanish and english and has the best and cutest accent ever! lol oh my Lord, does she ever sound cute…..
She is the biggest fan of Disney princesses….. and of any woman that happens to be wearing a long fluffy dress…. she owns about 10 dresses that she says they are princess dresses…. and looks at herself in the mirror while spinning around and dancing…. and making little ballerina moves. (by the way, the ballerina classes didn't go too well… she loves to dance, but didn't follow the teacher all too well….)

This past Saturday, we celebrated what is called the 3 year old presentation (Mexican tradition) as well as her birthday and her baptism. It was done by reverend Pistone, the same priest that married my hubby and me and the same that renewed my parents vows about 5 years ago.
Couple of funny highlights about the ceremony (Maddie blowing the candle as the father was praying for all of us, father walking with the lit candle and the thing blowing off by itself, Maddie saying 'byyyyeeeee!' to him when he went to get it from the altar, her face when she felt the holy water on her head, and her yelling 'yaaaaaay!' and clapping excited when the ceremony was over.

We had a few friends and family members…. but that's all we needed. We took off back to grandpaw's house to eat some pizza and cake and to break the pinata (SUCH a blast with all the kiddos- got batted on my pinky finger… ouch!!!) and we revealed the big surprise for her…. a pink power operated cadillac for her to ride around all over! she loooooved it! she was so excited, she fell off of it trying to climb on it!!! and then drove backwards almost hitting the table (where all the food was!).

So funny.

Since her white dress that my parents (the godparents too) bought for her didn't make it on time, i had to go out and get one for the day. So now the kid has 2 white dresses that are her absolute FAVORITE present ever. She does nothing else that wear those things day and night and dance around and chase the kitty, and drive her caddie in them.

All the milestones, all the words, all the expressions….. all the hugs and the kisses…. even when I'm mad, or going insane…. or when I've heard a screaming child for the past 45 minutes…..

I LOVE THIS KID.

She's still the most precious gift God and life has given me.

Three years young…. and an entire LIFETIME of happiness. That's what I pray for every night. That she remains illuminated, happy, protected, and surrounded by love…. FOREVER AND ALWAYS.

She's my heart beating outside my chest.


I love you baby girl. (YES, baby… forever in mommy's heart)


Baby Tracker

It's about a week from now that my dear parents will come up to visit us (for 4 months!!!!) after almost 9 months of not seeing each other….it's  been painful, but it is so exciting to think about the faces they are going to make when they see my little almost 3 year old 'newborn'….

It's still so hard to see how my little chubby baby turns into this beautiful little girl, but at the same time, it's soooo amazingly rewarding and the pride I feel for her overrides any kind of melancholy related to 'loosing' my infant.

It's magical to see her dance with such coordination, yet still shaky little hands when she tries to put together her favorite princess puzzle. It's somewhat frustrating to tell her 3 or 4 times to not touch the toilet (or play in it, for that matter), but once I step back to see the bigger picture, it's extremely cute to see her try so hard to use the bathroom like such a big girl she thinks she is. I cannot believe almost a year ago she was out of diapers! (believe it or not…. I miss that).

Thinking about it…. there is not much left of my baby. Only faces and expressions she makes at certain things: when she looks up at me… and I can still see her little double chin and neck rolls like when she was 9 months old…, or when she is sleeping and her short little arms are thrown upwards and her chubby belly hangs out of her shirt. Her standing in the shower trying to 'catch' the water with her chubby little hands….

Boy. Now I think back and it was extremely rough to get rid of each baby item, one by one…. like the bottles…. the binkies,….. her favorite baby swing that momma and dadda went out to get right before she was born…., not to mention her boppy pillow where grandpap used to put her to sleep (even when his arm felt like it was going to fall off) for hours…. he would not move because his baby girl was sleeping…. *sighs*

So many things now have changed…. she has a twin bed (that she rather not sleep in) instead of her crib, she eats sitting at the table instead of a high chair, she wears skates instead of pushing a walker, she carries on conversations about her 'best fwiends' and where she'd like to go shopping 'tomowow'….. it's unbelievable!

I see how she 'takes care' of our friends' new little boy…. she is such natural nurturer! she calls him 'baby Eli' even tho he's not much younger than her….
I cannot help but to just picture her being a 'big sister' someday.

I know, I know…. I've said million times that she will be the only one….. but to see her in such nurturing, caring, happy mode… makes her father's and my heart swell. Of course there are many big priorities for now, like finish our house, like figure out our finances as a family, ….. but maybe one day, if it's our destiny, Maddie will be the big girl role model that I think she would no doubt be, to a little tiny sib.

In the meantime, we are decided to enjoy every last drop of her juicy self. Every tiny minute of the time I get to spend with her is sacred, and treasured, and stored in my memory like it is GOLD. These are the memories I will go to the cemetery with. I will always carry with me the very first time I felt her little hands in my womb, I will always keep that baby smell and her sweet milky breath in my heart. I will always remember those little baby sounds (that sometimes she still seems to be able to pull off for me….. like if she knew mommy melts….. every time). I will always be carrying those little hands on my cheeks, and those little pecks at night followed by a 'good night mammi, I wuv you too'.

We've decided we are going to do a little Mexican cultural expression called 'presentacion de tres anos', which is a three year old ceremony at the church to give thanks to God about the life of a child.
Eventho her dad is not the most religious person in the world and, well, mommy isn't a nun either… we've decided this will be the perfect occasion to celebrate in a more spiritual manner, the fact that this little angel was sent from above to fill up our lives with so much joy.

Being a mommy……*ehem* being HER mommy has been the most painfully AMAZING experience in my entire life!  painfully because there's so much love you can fit into a heart the size of my fist….





Baby Tracker

Well, it's been quite a long time since the last time I updated Maddie's tracker…. so don't know where to start! There have been so many milestones, small and big that she's hit. So many things she can say now, so much stuff she's able to do by herself that my eyes cannot stop starring at her in awe, every second of this journey of motherhood that I am so blessed to have started 2 years ago.

She is now 27 months old. So three months after her second birthday, she is completely potty trained, day and night (with the occasional accident at night… but hey, she is still little!) and she can go all by herself to the small potty (the big one we still have to assist her because we had the bright idea to get a 'tall people' commode and my poor midget is too small to jump on it), pull down her pants, sit, pee and wipe. She can pull her pants up (although her butt cheeks usually hang out.. lol, which is completely hysterical) and yell 'all done!' and do the potty dance and song.
She is eating perfectly fine, drinking her milk (still with cereal in it… to get the iron she needs) out of the sippy, and drinks water out of a 'big girl' cup with no lid. Sometimes it can get messy, but she goes and gets some napkins and cleans up her own mess. =)

It's so cute to hear her sing the 'clean up song' when she picks up her toys, she also sings a spanish song about some puppies and does all the gestures and hand moves…. but her ultimate favorite song is 'tinkle tinkle'… lol, and she loves to sing it with her little hands opening and closing, and then doing the 'diamond in the sky' part with her fingers. She gets so excited when the part of 'up above the sky so high' and sings it 'uppa paappaa ky to I'…… it SOOOO cute!!! lol
She also loves the ABC song and can say most of the letters by herself. She also can count to 10 both in english and spanish, and she misses one or two numbers every once in a while.

Her speech is probably a little behind toddlers her own age, but the doctor says this is expected since she is bilingual. She has the same number of words as a monolingual 2 year old, but might seem to be less since hers are half and half in both languages. I am seeing a constant progress though, and that's the important thing.
She pronounces some words PERFECT! like, cheese used to be 'que'… then it evolved to 'quessss'… and now, the other day, she said it like nothing: 'queso, mami pees' (please)

She is a little stinker. And my husband and I's conversations always revolves around her and what she does and how adorable she is. I've been told by the grandparents the same effect is caused on them… ;)

She's just so amazing. She's just so beautiful. Her charcoal black shiny hair, her porcelain white skin…. her beautiful dark eyes… her little button, turned up nose, her tiny strawberry shaped lips…. and big ole hamster cheeks…. OMG.. she is a doll…. :) (proud momma? you think?)

She is a big kid for her age though. She is up close to 35 inches tall, she's 30 pounds (not too heavy, but not skinny) and her feet….. oh lawd, her feet are HUUUUGE: size 8 (going on 9 here soon!). But then again, I don't have little princess feet either…. nor does daddy, or the grandparents… so my poor child is doomed! lol

I recently got the job of my dreams. It's a little bit of a haul from home, but I am loving the environment, the work I do, and my paycheck as well!! We were also able to sign her up for a much better daycare, so mommy now is actually enjoying life and enjoying dropping her off knowing she will be well taken care of, and going to a job she actually enjoys!!!
I was able to get a new car (with air conditioner!), and a new cell phone: a Droid. I thought it was gonna be my little 'toy' until someone claimed it and knows EXACTLY how to play it!, she knows the back button, she knows where all the apps are, and which ones are for her. She knows the names of them….(funny thing: the one with animal sounds she calls them 'roooooaaarrrrrrrr! mommy, rooooaaaarrrr!!!) and can pull them up and start playing them so easily. She loves the balloon app and blows real hard to get the thing to explode and CRACKS herself up every time she does it! lol

We also have been spending a lot of time in the pool. My sister in law got her a pair of floaties, which she now likes (not so much at the beginning) and we let her 'swim' all by herself with them on. She jumps right into the water with no fear what so ever, and swims to mommy or daddy. We are still working on the 'kick' thing…. ;)

She is just such a good baby girl. She's always been… thank GOD for blessing me with this child!!! :D

So now the question is: when… or are we ever…. gonna go for #2??…. that is still a controversial subject. If you ask us right now? our answer is: we feel perfectly complete and happy with her as an only child. But…. maybe we could change our minds in a few years. Maybe I will suffer infertility again? well, we are open to adoption as well! =)
We are all good.


:D

Happy thursday!

Baby Tracker

So this little tiny baby she once was... is now a full blown toddler, with her challenges, but full of joys and we are SO very proud of her! she's doing so many things now, that sometimes I just can't help it but tear up when I see her growing up....

I remember, about a month ago, we were at the mall and while gramma was quite busy shopping, gramps, myself and little terror were walking about, when she saw a bunch of little kids pass her path running around and screaming in joy.
She stopped and stared in fascination. Then she looked up at me and asked me for my hand... when I held it, she pulled me towards the kids. They were playing some sort of tag, and I could tell she wanted to join so bad, but felt a little nervous to approach the bunch by herself. I moved my head in approval and told her 'it's ok baby, go ahead'. She pulled my hand again and said 'c'mon mommy', but I wanted her to do it herself and not be afraid. I assured her I was gonna be 'right here'.
She was careful in her approach but she just started running behind the bunch and mimicking what everyone was doing. They looked at her a little stranged at the beginning, but as she didn't care and started laughing histerically with them, they incorporated her and started playing with her.
She would stop right infront of a kid or two and smile and say something silly, which made them laugh. That was her way of saying 'here I am, I'm fun, see? wanna play with me too?'.
It was SO ABSOLUTELY adorable I just couldn't help but tear up.... grandpa couldn't let go though and was running around behind her trying to catch his breath... LOL

Another thing she's doing a lot is TALK! holly mother of the chatter boxes! does she ever talk. She said to grampa the other day 'c'mon O (abuelo), vente a pake' (which would translate to 'c'mon grampa, let's go to park). We just looked at each other and my jaw about dropped to the floor! lol it was impressive.

She is saying things that I don't ever recall teaching her, she's putting a full sentence together no problem, she counts to five all by herself and to ten with a little tiny bit of assistance. She is fully potty trained and have had just 2 accidents in a month and a half! =)

*sighs*

Being her mom is absolutely beautiful.

Thank you God!!!!! =D

Baby Tracker