"I was so brave, Mommy"

 I understand that a big stranger in a bright suit can be a little intimidating, so I was fully prepared for Amaya to just stand next to Santa this year, but being the brave little 2-year-old that she is, she did it.  She sat on his lap and yelled, "A bike!  A pink bike!"  and even stayed there for just an extra minute while Daddy snapped a pic.  I am so proud.

Amaya-isms

I just love to hear this kid talk, lucky for me, she talks constantly.

A while ago:
Amaya:  Mommy, there's a bird outside kind of like a flamingo.
Me:  There's a bird outside.  Wow.
Amaya: Yeah, but he has to stay outside.  If he comes in he'll eat my cereal.


Last night when getting ready for bed:
"Next time, when we go to the beach, I'm going to wear scuba gear on my face so I can go under the water like Diego.  Mommy, can I have some googles for my face so I can go under the water?"

Her new game is picking out words that are "kind of like" other words, such as:
"Gloria, kind of like Laura"
"Pizza, kind of like Peter Pan"

Hooray for spontaneous phoneme awareness!

Waiting For Dinner

Christmas Tree

A friend of mine is in Spain teaching right now, so she asked us to make a short video about our Christmas traditions.  I figured, everything is better with Amaya, so she helped make the video.  And if there is a video of Amaya out there, I should probably put it on the blog.

Halloween

Amaya picked what she wanted to be for Halloween and Jena made the costume. Not too bad, eh? Lilia was supposed to be a monkey (as seen in the photos) but it got too hot for her so she ended up trick or treating as a naked baby.



As excited as Amaya was to trick or treat, she was even more excited to hand out candy. She had to make sure everyone got matching candy and she tried to get everyone what she thought they would like.

Grandparents + Pool

A Million Lilia Faces

Soooo, we've been pretty bad about posting pictures of Lilia.  Excuses: 1. She sleeps alot, which is great, but kind of cuts down on picture taking opportunities.  2. When she's awake, that usually means both kids are awake, which means we are just in chaos control mode.  3. She's relatively stationary and non verbal, which also cuts down on the really obvious we-just-have-to-document-this moments, (80% of her pictures she's in her car seat or stroller, it's gets a little monotonous).

Why this is so tragic:  She's beautiful!!  It makes me so happy just to look at her!  She's growing so fast!  She has such a pretty little face!  She smiles!  She laughs!  She is amazing!

So, in an attempt to remedy the situation, I submit: A million Lilia Faces.  (I'll be honest, I don't know if we'll ever get around to renaming the blog.)

Always content in the Bjorn

Another sweet face

In the stroller

Still kind of bald

In August, three months old

July, two months old

August, almost 4 months old.  With Grandpa Juan

Smiling...a lot

Reason #4, most of Lilia's pictures have our dirty dishes in the frame somehow, not classy.

Surprise face, we get this one a lot.

Starting to love peek-a-boo.  September, 4 months old.

I love this child's laugh.  LOVE.

Tumble

Amayaisms

John sent me the following email last week:



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amaya: Daddy, Daddy first we have to play games, then we eat. First we have to play games. Daddy, first we have to play games.
Me: ... (Not really paying attention)
Amaya: Daddy! Freeze! Ok, here's the deal. First we play games, then we can eat.

-----
We made pancakes and bacon for lunch and after telling her she had to wait to eat the bacon, I caught her trying to sneak one.
Amaya: I was just checking.

-----
Amaya: I have an owie on my knee Daddy. I need a band-aid.
Me: No hay sangre, no necesitas un band-aid. (translation: There's no blood, you don't need a band-aid)
Amaya: There is sangre (blood) inside my knee Daddy, so I need a band-aid.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do I even need to say how happy it made me?  This little girl makes me so happy.  She may have grown in my belly, but she is absolutely her own person.

Also makes me happy:  this picture.

Cousins at the Children's Museum

And this one.























And this one, last one, I promise.

I love that Amaya loves her cousins.  I also love that Carmen is wearing Amaya's clothes, it just seems cousin-y in the best way.

Cake!

We spent the weekend in WA and while there, LaPrele made an awesomely delicious chocolate birthday cake. Soooooo good...

Jena and Amaya helped out:

Attempted Somersault

Coloring

Lilia

Old(ish) picture from a couple of months ago.

Bath Time

Scenic Drive

We drove to Snowflake last week for the Pioneer Days Celebration. I swear I took a bunch of pictures while we were there but I can't seem to find any of the actual celebration.

Sunday Walks

Despite the crazy heat, we still try to not be trapped inside by going for walks at different parks around town. The walks are usually pretty short (you can see how sweaty Amaya is even after only a few minutes at the park) but at least we get to breathe some fresh air. The last picture is courtesy of Amaya.







P.S. For some reason Firefox likes to sometimes not show all the pictures we post on here. You might want to try Chrome or a different browser to make sure you're seeing everything.