4 months later...

I'm clearly not good at this blogging thing, BUT in my defense I tried to get on my computer about 4 other times to update but when all you have is 30 minutes and it takes your computer either 30-40minutes to turn on or the internet page to load you just forget.
A lot has happened since the last update.
-started walking
-celebrated her first birthday


-is talking a little
-got baptized


-has been to daycare (once a week)
-has 4 or 5 more teeth and more hair

Audrey loves going outside and swinging on the swing in the backyard. She loves pointing at different things and telling me about it. She loves walking over to the bookshelf with her books, picking a book, and bringing it to us. Sometimes, she sits through the whole book other times she sits for (maybe) a page. Currently her favorite book is a Dora book "A Nadar Boots!" Evan loves it when she brings that book over to him to read ;)Despite the fact that the book is all in Spanish and I try to speak to her in Spanish throughout the day, most of her words are in English. The other day I tried writing down all the words I've heard her say and there are 29 on my list but I keep remembering some when I don't have to list. Only 5 of them are in Spanish. Some of my favorite words to hear her say are Hi, Wow!, elbow (el-whoa), si (but she says si's) and cheese (to smile for a pic). Her favorite words are eyes, nose, no, and shoes. She says most words spontaneously but not all the time. Lately, since she is trying to repeat things, I try to get her to repeat names and words.

Another favorite activity is watering the flowers in the front of the house. She picks up the watering can and says (agua)"Awa, awa." Last week she started saying our neighbor's name. These last two days they (kind of) play together. (I say that with a very loose interpretation) They run to the same corner and sit. Audrey loves babies. She wants to hug them, and by hug them I mean lay her head on them. Then she sends kisses their way. I'm hoping it is a promising sign for her sibling.

That's another new thing since last post. Audrey is a big sister. I am crossing my finger that I get to find out the sex of the baby this Friday but I'm not actually scheduled for an ultrasound. I'm hoping they say sure we can do one. After all I'll be in the same place they do them. If not, I (and you) will have to wait until the end of December.

My time is up. Until next time!

Double Digits

TEN MONTHS!


Tomorrow my little sweet pea turns 10 months old. This month has been exciting seeing the different things I have been teaching her come to fruition. I have been teaching her and talking to her in Spanish but everything else around her is in english (tv, most books, me talking to Evan, most of the family speaks in English). I looks like she is learning both. For example she is clapping when I say "aplaude" and she did it when she say the word clap on tv too. Hopefully I can keep it up.

Things Audrey is doing:
-"aplaude" -clapping (it looks a little more like she is dusting sand off her hands)
-"dame cinco" -give me five (she slaps your hand several times)
-"saluda" -wave (sometimes with one hand, sometimes with both) She imitates it too.
-"manos arriba" -hands up (we are working on hands down...it's really not as exciting)
-"donde esta tu lengua" -where is your tongue (she sticks out her tongue)
-She started drinking from a straw last week. I began working on using a straw a while ago but very inconsistently. So, I took a bunch of disposable straws on vacation with me and her straw sippy cup in hopes that she would learn how to use it by the end of vacation. I also did not pack her soft tip sippy cup so I wouldn't get lazy and just give it to her (instead of using a straw). Anyway, we arrived on Saturday afternoon and she was using her cup the NEXT DAY! I am so proud of her.
-She can remove the 8 puzzle pieces off her shapes (peg) puzzle but now that is all she wants to do....take them off and hand them to me. She has no interest in putting them back in.
-For a while now she will open her little toy radio/cd player and remove the CDs but again won't put them in their slot. She is also pressing the buttons on the radio.

-She can put the magnetic pacifer on her dolls mouth (sometimes she puts it in her own mouth).

-She doesn't need too good of a grip to pull up on something.

-Tapping toys together has never been more fun.
-Sticking her finger in another teething child's mouth (who has teeth) is also fun. This skill I am not so proud of.
-Playing with her primos and our neighbor is becoming more interactive.

-Playing in the sand is extremely fun.

-Getting her diaper changed continues to be a least favorite activity. Sometimes toys work to keep her entertained.
-Dropping toys from her high chair or changing table has a good ring to it.
-Forget mama and papa, making the "sssssssss" sound is her favorite.
-Bubbles are fun.

-Phone and remote controls are still great toys.
-She likes to sit in hurdler position and on both knees.
-We put up a swing in the backyard and she loves it.

-She loves to grab something soft when she is tired and suck her thumb.

-Screaming is still not out of style.
-Empty cups make cool sounds when you talk/scream into them.

Things we are working on:
-pointing to or showing me that she knows other body parts (e.g.touching her nose, blinking her eyes)
-"beso"
-"abrazo"
-putting things IN, not just taking out

PS. Audrey is up to 4 teeth!

Nueve Meses!!

Nine months with my princess. It's weird because I still don't feel like she's mine or better yet like I'm her mom. I'm not sure why this kid is here but I like babysitting her.
Audrey is crawling a combo of army crawl and a typical (on knees) crawl. She is pulling up on anything that is above her head and she can get a somewhat safe grip on...Safety is of no concern to her. Once she is up on her feet she can't get down. Yesturday I put her down for her nap knowing it might take her a while to fall asleep. I was trying to get her back on schedule after a busy Miami weekend. I heard her crying in waves. After quite a while I was surprised she wasn't asleep so I went in to help. Turns out, she was standing in her crib with her head resting on the bar. She couldn't get down and was tired. A minute after I put her down in her crib she fell asleep. Poor baby.
Ta-ta, da-da, o-o, na-na, ahh-ahh, etc... she is making lots of sounds. It's fun to talk back to her because her face is so expressive you think you're actually having a conversation. She is definitely making more sounds than before.
This whole sitting up and standing put a damper on her sleeping for a few days (she has done well the pass few days so I'm crossing my fingers). She decided that waking up at 1:30am was a good time to get rocked back to sleep. I'm hoping this silly habit is over. Evan and I were glad that she slept without crying this weekend in Miami and even last night. I actually had to wake her up this morning at 8:40am!. This hasn't happened since she was 4 months old?! I went in to wake her up at 8am and said "Audrey" softly and rubber her back which would usually cause her to open her eyes wide and start kicking and smiling like she wasn't just sleeping so I left her there until she woke up.
I have been working on Audrey stacking the rings on cone, clapping and waving(to name a few). And finally, we got a wave! I can't "master" her out of this skill because it's not consistent at least 80% of the times but I am still quite happy. The other skills still show no signs of progression but then again there was no warning on the wave. After playing with our little neighbor (who is one month Audrey's senior and a great waver) we were saying "Bye" and right as I was about to go lift Audrey's hand to wave it, there she was oddly flapping it to say bye. I was (still am) so excited.
So here is my worry, this kid's got an attitude! I'm hoping it's a phase. I'm working on it and I see it better at times. I guess we'll see. Don't get me wrong she a happy and good baby but you should see her when she doesn't get her way. Preparate!

May FUN...

After Mother's Day Javo and Kristen came to visit us. We sang Happy Birthday with a homemade ICE CREAM cake. It was Delish (or at least Evan and I loved it)! She is the big TWO-FIVE. Yay Tia Kristen!

The following weekend we headed to Miami. On Friday, Madrina came over and brought Audrey a beautiful sunflower headband and played with Audrey.
playing the drums

That evening we headed to Tio Javo and Tia Kristen's apartment for dinner. Mama and Papa played PS3 for the first time. It was a lot of fun. The food was very good too. We really enjoyed the night.
Tia Ali playing with you :)


Mama & Tio Javo battling it out playing the Micheal Jackson game


Abuelita and Abuelo enjoying your sleepy, cuddley self


Saturday was primo hangout day. The primos and primas came over (except Amelie) and slept over abuelo, abuelita, and Tia Ali's house. Tia Tere and Tio Migui came to help too. We played outside with the dolphin that grows in the water. Then the boys took a bath and came out looking like this!!
CRAZY HAIR PRIMOS!!



Your bisabuelo came to visit!


primos playing


Mandy loves his prima


It was a fun day.

That night mama & papa went to celebrate a friends birthday after you fell asleep. It was themed "movie party". My friend Sarah made this concession stand for her boyfriend, Tony, the birthday boy.
Concession Stand


with "popcorn" cupcakes!


the cool cake Krysten made


Sunday morning we met up with Padrino, Marilyn and Aiko for brunch. It was so nice to talk, enjoy the weather and the good food.
with the Puertos


with my Padrino


Then it was back in the car to head back to WH.

We had a special visitor that stopped to see us on his way to NC.

ABUELO!!!!


This weekend is Memorial Day weekend! On Saturday we had a few friends over. Liliana our neighbor and Lily Anne your almost twin both came over to play in the pool. It was a low key fun day of burgers friends and fun.

8 Month-a-roonie

I'm not going to lie, the 1st month or two after Audrey was born felt like 6 months. You get comments on facebook like "omg I can't believe she is already one month old" and I thought "Are you sure she isn't 4 months old?" But now, I swear it's been a week, and a month has flown by!

I'm EIGHT MONTHS OLD. It's True!!!

At eight months she is....

CRAWLING like a little soldier. She may stay low to the ground and clean the floors but the kid can move. Her favorite things to crawl towards are phones and shoes.

Look at me. I just made it to the bookshelf after knocking down the basket of toys!


falling asleep ON HER OWN for naps and at night. We used to put her to sleep in arms at night time but she is too curious and won't fall asleep. She is even doing it without crying. We go into her room, I place her stuffed animal in a certain spot on her bed, turn on her music, give her kisses and say "te quiero mucho", and place her in her crib. She automatically turns to the opposite side of her stuffed animal(?), hugs the crib bumper, sticks her thumb in her mouth and she is out.

EATING REAL FOOD in addition to baby food. She has eaten oatmeal, bananas, couscous, eggs, peas, and red beans (that's all I can think of).

NOT SCREAMING as much. She likes to mainly scream only when she sees other kids and dogs but it is not constant or as much.

going through HATING THE CAR phase again. I hope she get over it soon.

LEARNING to KICK in the pool (she has no idea what she is doing but I reinforce it). I like that she is hearing the word "KICK" since it was a special part of my running days. Although not in the same context that I heard it in or with the same inflection maybe one day she will hear it too.

amused by us trying to teach her "mama" "papa" "clap your hands" "wave" etc...

doing a couple of things for the FIRST TIME like SITTING UP FROM LAYING DOWN(Neither Evan nor I saw her do it but she did it, somehow) and PULLING UP in her crib from the sitting position. I sat her in her crib with toys while I put away her clean clothes and when I turned around she was standing (extremely wobbly but super excited).

Last month I said she learned how to splash. We added a drum to the flailing arms to show her how to bang on the drum. Ta-da!
Bamboleoooo!

My 1st Mother's Day

Mother's Day. It is so much better when you are actually a mother and not because you are the one getting the gifts (although that is a perk). I've always enjoyed Mother's Day and Father's Day growing up because I was excited to give them gifts and usually there was some kind of family get together, maybe even at the beach:). I always enjoy time with my family. (Sometimes I complain because we have a birthday, graduation, etc...every other weekend, never leaving us any personal time. The only reason I think it is bothersome is not because I have to be there but because I WANT to be there.) Anyway, like I was saying, I have always enjoyed Mother's Day BUT NOW it is WAY better. Why?


Because I have my own little silly baby who loves to smile, eat and sleep. A baby who gives me kisses by leaving her mouth open when I put it to my cheek, a baby who screams with excitement and smiles often, a baby who loves being with her mommy, a baby whose cry breaks my heart and a baby who lets me kiss her to pieces and cracks up while I do it. Those are just a few of my favorite things about her.
Mother's Day is a reminder of the day I had my little princess. I cry just typing that because she is that special (and I am that emotional).
I hope everyone had a GREAT Mother's Day!




ps. We took some family pics on Mother's Day. Can't wait to show some off.

knock, knock.

who's there?
Percy.
Percy, who?
PERCY-NALITY!!!

Pretty good, ehh? I'm pretty good at being corny. Anyway, little Audrey is now 7 months old. She gets funnier everyday. From the start you see their personalities but as time passes it becomes more evident.

I've always noticed that my little linguini loves to be out and about. She loves people coming up to her and looking around. Screaming has served, and continues to serve several purposes: "I LIKE TO HEAR MY VOICE!!!" "WOW! I LIKE THAT! IT'S COOOOOOOOOL!" "LOOK MAAAAAAAAAAMA!" and of course "LOOK AT ME!!" "YES, I'M CUUUUUTE!". Those are just a few of her favorite screams.


She is not crawling yet, but she can do a complete 360 on her belly using her arms and she has been traveling backward instead of forward. She wants to go forward so she get pretty mad about getting further from the desired object. That results in a cry. Another sure fire way to have a crying Audrey is not giving her what is in your hand (anything that may be in it...trash, toys, keys, paper) or your hand itself...to bite! LOL No teeth yet but you can see her gums have the bumps to for the top 2 and bottom 2 teeth. Speaking of teeth and crying. Her favorite teether is her sippy cup and don't you dare take that away either. Anything you take away should quickley be replaced and the substitute item must be better.

While in Miami Audrey was given a walker to use. She is getting better in it. She loves playing with the single booklike flap on it.
In the excersaucer she turns completely around and "plays"/eats all the toys. Her favorite thing on most toys is ....the tag. I am soooo glad I didn't cut those off her toys.

Since last post she has been to Tallahassee where she went to her first FSU event....THE FSU FLYING HIGH CIRCUS. The girl has to know her roots. If you haven't been, you should. She was tired from an eventful morning and did great at the show but fell asleep during the second half. We had lunch with friends then headed to the alumni reception for drinks and good company.

Family pic before the show


Here is Audrey with the Lady Flying Seminoles

The next morning Audrey went to her FIRST egg hunt.
It was so much fun. All 3 of us enjoyed it so much, so much, that Evan wanted to have an egghunt for Audrey on Easter (the following weekend)and invite kids (which we don't know of any near us).

Here's Audrey looking so cute in this toy car at Chad and Mayela's house :)


Audrey met the Easter bunny at the mall that week and got her picture taken. She did great! Check out her smile

On Easter day she woke up at 6:30am?!?! Wierd. Luckily we left her in her crib where she finally fell back to sleep until 8am...much better. We got ready and headed out to church where we met up with grandma and grandpa. After church we had a lovely lunch at the Brinton's house. The table was set up beautifully and grandmother joined us for it.

After church on Easter Sunday


Scoping out her Easter basket


I feel so lucky to get to stay home with my little munchkin. I get to see all her little funny expressive faces, hear her laugh and cry, eat her yummy cheeks, take her out like a trophy baby (yeah, I said it). Only teeny drawback is that she doesn't really like other people to take her. I want to share her so that other people can see how great she is but she would rather them enjoy her while she is in my arms. She isn't completely spoiled...she will go with you (if I disappear and she can't hear me). For now I soak it up and enjoy it. Pretty soon she will learn that being out of mama's arms is way more fun.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIO JAVO!!