A weekend of Firsts!!

We experienced quite a few firsts this weekend all beginning with the girls' 7 month mark on Friday December 19th!

The morning of their 7 month birthday :)

I have to note that this month Cati seems so amused by her doll showing big giant smiles when I show her the plush lovable blond doll. And seems to be amused with her & she can be entertained by the rather plain doll for a pretty long time.



This week we had our first snowfall of the season & I managed to get out right after I put the girls to bad to catch a quick snapshot of the occasion. It was very peaceful & sweet I thought. Later this weekend we got pummeled by more snow on Friday and Sunday...so what was initially welcomed with great awe & novelty is now turning into a huge headache.



And finally we got celebrate a birthday for my first little girl...TOPAZ! She is now 4 years old and a grown up in dog years. AAAHHH it's all happening way too fast. We had a small celebration for her & her birthday gift consisted of some yummy organic all beef hotdogs. And yes, she got everything she wanted for her birthday.




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Time Flies!!!

As the official holidays are upon us I'm realizing that it's all happening so fast! I've heard one too many times..."Enjoy it! They grow up so quickly." But I'm seeing that's it's so true. My once little peanuts are these large active munchkins! SHOCK! What happened to my tiny barely mobile preemies?? It kind of makes me a little sad. I'll probably repeat this story over & over again but whatever. I remember bringing them home in this oversized car seat & watching to see if they were okay at every turn during our 30 minute journey home. And they slept ever so still all the way home. They were so delicate back then...weighing in at barely 4lbs each after 10 days in the NICU.

Now they're a wopping 15lbs which is more then tripled their birth weight! And they wiggle all the time. They can barely keep still for more then 30 seconds on my lap. They twist & turn during the diaper change kicking their legs up in the air so you get all the Desitin everywhere but on their bottom where it belongs. They laugh & giggle & scream out vowels. Catalina is starting to use some consonants in her yodeling sessions lately. She also looks like she's on the verge of a real crawl not the scooting she now does on her back or on her elbows. Valentina is the a literal jumping bean & I swear she must have the strongest little legs. Could we have a gymnast on our hands? Or perhaps a WNBA star :) AAAAAHHH every mother's dream!

The girls turn 7 months next week & I sit & wonder where did it all go?? When did it all happen?? Will I have time to do all the things I want to do with them before they're off to college??

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Our 1st Halloween!!

This is the first of many foolish & ridiculous Halloween antic!! I can't wait!!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

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OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!

I bet my friends are tired of me texting them all night! OBAMA OBAMA OBAMA!!

But I woke up this morning & rubbed my eyes to make sure I hadn't dreamt it all. I looked for the paper on the driveway & there it was in BIG BLACK LETTERS...OBAMA Racial Barrier Falls In Decisive Victory. Need I say more that November 4th 2008 will go down in history. And we were here & we witnessed this historic event. It's not a story told to us by grandparents, teachers, and history books. It is a real life event for us! My daughters were here & will be a part of this momentus time in history. Their first years of their life will be under the very first black president of the United States. I'm shocked and overwhelmed and it's even difficult to find the words. But I have a renewed sense of hope and inspiration for the future of this country. As a parent I am relieved, there's hope for a bright future that my girls can look forward to. I wonder if they will ever know just HOW BIG this is? I wonder if they will ever know what a phenomenal moment in history this is? I wonder if they will appreciate that in 2008 the year they were born America CHANGED forever. This country would never be the same again. I wonder if they realize that this was never expected in OUR lifetime.

To my daughters Catalina and Valentina: November 4th 2008, you were 5 months old. Your dad & I took the day off because something in our hearts told us that today would be an extra special day. We didn't know it that day when we woke up but by the time we went to bed we found ourselves unable to fall asleep from all of the excitement. The events of that day will never be forgotten. It was a day of many firsts. We took you both to our voting location. It was a warm Indian summer day in November. We decided that we were going to vote as a family so we took the nice walk over to Bergenfield High School. We even joked that one day you both may be coming here to vote in just 17 years! :) As we walked toward the school we saw others taking time out of their work day to come & vote. As we walked into the hall everyone had something to say to us about the twins coming to vote. We smiled and thanked them for the compliments and moved on to the business at hand. Your dad & I signed in and walked behind the curtains to cast our ballots. I remember feeling so anxious and nervous as we walked out. Your dad & I smiled congratulated each other and the both of you on your very first presidential election vote! We walked out as though our vote today meant something more then any other vote we'd ever cast in the past. You see this year, 2008, was one of the most unprecedented presidential races we'd ever seen. And today we knew that all of the hard work these candidates had experienced the last 22 months would come to an end. At that moment the end was so uncertain. We talked about how we would describe this day to the two of you. We talked about how we would recount the day's events and really were so excited that we could sit you down & tell you all about it...one day. We got back home to check out the news on the TV and your dad decided he couldn't watch anymore until at least 6pm which is when some Indiana polls would close. So we distracted ourselves with other obligations for the day. We took you both to the doctors for your 5 month visit & you got your polio vaccine. Like good girls you didn't cry much & the doctor said you were doing WONDERFULLY!! Cati weighed 13lbs 8oz and Val weighed 13lbs 6oz and you both were over 25 inches long. We took you to do some shopping & had dinner at Applebees before heading back home. I kept thinking if my babies weren't so small we'd be somewhere with a large crowd to watch the results come in. But here you were so we planned out the last feeding for you that night & we were anxious to put you to bed soon! As we got your ready for bed Valentina decided this would be HER day in history too!!! One minute you were on your back & the next minute you decided to roll over on your belly for the first time. I bet it was all the excitement of the day. Your dad & I laughed and cheered as we celebrated your milestone. After all the excitement you both went to bed without much fuss. And like never before you slept soundly despite all of the yelling & laughing & talking we did most of the night. While you slept we watched this incredible orator take over the night in a race never before seen in hisotry since the days of Abraham Lincoln. We watched the news without flinching and struggling to stay awake because THIS night would be a special night for sure. Our nerves worked us through a ton of left over Halloween candy & ice cream! We watching diligently as state by state got announced blue or red. First big one New Hampshire, Vermont, the beginning of the end was nearing when Pennsylvania got announced blue, Orlando county in Florida was looking like it was going blue too. Virginia was being announced as a race too close to call and North Carlonia looked like it was going blue too. The whole northeast was now blue. Ohio results coming in was looking like blue too! Florida still too close to call but the blue was leading. As 10pm rolled in we couldn't help get excited but were too scared (like the media) to celebrate too soon. I was dozing off when your dad yelled "get up get up this is it! California polls are closing in a minute" And then I saw it on the big screen...CNN PROJECTS Senator Obama PRESIDENT ELECT! And that's how history was made.

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It happened!

The unthinkable happened yesterday!! I had heard some stories about this & thought to myself, gosh I hope MY girls never do anything like this. Well it didn't actually happen to me per se, but it happened to Jorge. As we prepared for our nightly ritual....feeding of solids followed by a bottle followed by a nice soothing bath & then lotion massage & down for the night...the unthinkable grossest thing I'd ever seen happened!

I'm at the bottom of the stairs trying to understand what the heck Jorge was yelling about. All he kept saying was "I need your help!" Why, I asked. You give baths all the time. UUGGGHH annoyed mom goes up to the girls bathroom with Valentina in my arms. I opened the door to find my husband with my naked smiling daughter in his arms and thought what's the problem? Until he said..."what's the proper way to get poop out of the tub!" EEEEEWWWWW!!!!!

Yes, my daughter was so relaxed she pooped in her tub :shock & awe: The answer to his question was, "I don't know!" So I grabbed some toilet paper and attempted to scoop out the poop. Honestly I'd rather pick up my dogs' poop 100x over this. So I proceeded to dump out the poop & the water only to realize the poop did not stay in one piece & it was now in the tub. The tub which was now backed up. The tub which now had a veerrrry sloooow drain...double EEEEWWW. Yes the poop was just there floating in what seemed to be a still pond in my bathroom. Think quick! I still need to bathe these girls & put them to bed. SO we finished up the process in the sink while Cati had a diaper put on her so she could finish her business. I swear she was in a much more joyful mood then usual. If I didn't know better I would think she new EXACTLY what she did & was secretly amused by the whole ordeal.

I asked Jorge if he wanted to capture the dreadful act and take a picture. His response was an emphatic NO. So the next best thing was to take a pic of the culprit involved :)


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Life in the world of solids...

The girls will be 5 months old on Sunday...I can't believe how quickly time is passing.

Cati tasting Strawberries

Val loving her new found solids!!
I'm so incredibly excited to celebrate their very 1st holidays...Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years!! You can ask Jorge and he will confirm that these are BIG for me! I've always enjoyed celebrating them and have started traditions in our house ever since we started dating. For Halloween, I've managed to have him dress up at least ONCE. For Thanksgiving we have hosted it at our house a few times. And when we don't host it we make our own turkey at home & celebrate Thanksgiving again "just us." And Christmas is just No Holds Barred...decorations, baking, cooking, fresh trees, wreaths, carols, etc. etc. I luv luv luv Christmas so much that I get so depressed when it's over. New Year's is not as exciting but still I love watching the ball drop & kissing my sweety at midnight...hee hee!

Anyhow, all this to say that I am so looking forward to the holidays with the girls. So first up is Halloween & I decided they will be Lady Bugs mostly because it was on sale & looked comfy. It's made by Carters in the form of a sleep/play PJ and warm and cozy. SO I'm looking for a bug-type outfit for me and dad. I'm thinking we can be bumble bees or something.

SO back to the topic on the title of this post...boy did I go off on a tangent. My girls started solids when they turned 4 months, cereal, which to me is not really solids. The girls had a rough time with rice cereal (constipation...yuck!) so we decided despite my reservations about this, to add it to their bottles which worked out much better. Mommy has decided to make our own baby food. This sounds crazy even to me. Anyhow I've read up a bunch of books & asked around with some friends. As it turns out, a handful of friends make their own food for their kids. That was so shocking to me! So we ventured into the veggies world and I made a batch of steamed sweet potatoes. And the results were BIG HIT!! The girls just gobbled it up like they've been eating it for years :look of shock: I kept thinking to myself, where did they learn how to eat? Valentina protests when there's no more and Cati knows she must open her mouth when the spoon is approaching. I found all of this so amusing. They are doing great with the eating process and actually seemed more satisfied after a feeding with real solids. So I'm going to introduce them to oatmeal (fed by spoon) this weekend. This means they will be having 2 real meals along with 4 bottle feedings of 7 oz....are they monsters or what??!!! Man these girls can EAT!

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Our 4 month montage..

I guess it's late but alas...here it is. Our girls 4th month and all its precious moments :)

Make a Smilebox slideshow

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