Monday, February 22, 2010

bath time

what are you looking at?


emma really enjoys her bath time. she has taken to just lounging in her little tub. she lays back like a dive and has her daddy just wash away the dirt. she can spend hours in the water playing with her toys. she actually did the cutest thing yesterday. anthony had the water and toys all ready for her and as she approached the tub, realizing that she still had her diaper on, she took it upon herself to remove her own diaper. too cute. my little girl is getting to be so independent and self reliant. She is starting to become aware of the steps one takes before bathing. i wish i had been there to see it. all that was left as evidence was her diaper on the floor, with one flap open and the other side still sealed shut. lets hope she repeats this action tonight.









friday, Feb 19

top and knee highs, Janie and Jack
jumper, H&M
looking like a 3 year old at 16 months, 'roids (jk)


Thursday, February 18, 2010

today's outfit

mom, get out of my way...

if you look at her eyes, all you will see is Muno and Foofa.

dress, Old Navy
leggings, Childrens Place
blank stare, Yo Gabba Gabba
gray grosgrain ribbon hair bows, all tita on GDO



February 17

top and pants, Janie and Jack
barefoot, all daddy

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Emma on Valentine's last year and this year

still enjoying Mexican cuisine


still nosysweater also by great grandma, didnt she do lovely work?



she is still the same curious creature, just has more free will and will not stay still an entire meal. She has grown and changed so much. Last year we stumbled upon Papatzul and fell in love with it. It was really the first time we had taken her out to a restuarant...she behaved like a dream... Times have changed!!! but we wouldnt want to celebrate it any other way.
















week with daddy.

so daddy is on winter break and on emma watch. Clearly you see how casual emma is now. Her hair all tussled...she did just wake up. This week you might not see many cute outfits since im going to take advantage of not having to dress an extra person in the morning. top, Janie and Jack
bottoms, Gap
slippers, random vendor at Grand Central
just woke up look, all daddy

Valentine's outift

hair clip and top, Gymboree
dress, vintage Adela Noriega
leggings, Target
boots, Old navy
love that went into that dress, pricecless
practicing her magnum for baby Vogue


The dress

My mom's mom, was an amazing woman. I would have to start another blog just to begin talking about her life. She was an incredibly talented person and it pains me that her talents, along with her, are gone with no record left behind as a guide for future preservation. She was extraordinarily gifted when it came to design/sewing/knitting/crocheting. She was also an awesome chef that would put Batalli and Bayless to shame. Possessing these great gifts, it blows my mind how my grandmother was illiterate until very late in her life. She did not learn how to read and write until her late 60's and I can't forget how every night she would not go to sleep without doing her reading assignment at her little desk. She was so proud and would always ask me to teach her a new word in English. These hurdles never stopped her from always trying to better herself and her family. She learned how to create things with her hands as a way of survival, making beautiful articles of clothing. I tried learning how to knit a few years ago and gave up about as quickly as I started. I somehow felt that I was not talented enough, and didn't have it in me, yet after cleaning out my other paternal grandmother's house this past xmas, I came across just how talented both my grandmothers were and decided that I have no excuse not to at least try. My dads mom was a master embroiderer, if there is such a title, embroidering and crocheting such gorgeous, intricate, and delicate things. I found handkerchiefs and a calender she embroidered that must have taken her at least 6 months to finish. Mind you these items were all created before the times of fancy machines.
So while doing the daunting and heartbreaking task of cleaning and throwing away items of a loved one, I found a suitcase labeled 'baby clothes' in my mother's handwriting. In it I find some of my childhood outfits. and in particular I find a dress that I recognized not by memory but by site. This dress always stuck me as an odd dress when I would see pictures of myself in it. It was/is a baby doll dress of sorts. It was my second Easter outfit and that puts me right about Emma's age now when I wore it, 16 months. When I see this dress in the suitcase, I pull it aside and decide to wash it. I know immediately my mom's mom made it and want to make all attempts to salvage it. Once i am settled back home and I have washed this dress, and I look at it more closely, I realize just how intricate this dress it and I am amazed that my grandmother made this by hand specifically for me. Someone took the time to make me this beautiful dress, with careful thought put into all the details. This dress easily could bring in 300 dollars at BonPoint or Jacardi. The shape of the neck is in a wave-like form that peak into these little spheres. The body of the dress is made up of these scallops/sea shell type shapes. It is simply an amazing dress. I always find myself staring at it and holding onto it a bit longer before putting it away. It is as if I am trying to somehow feel my grandmother through this dress. She clearly devoted more than one day of her life to this dress and as silly as it sounds, I feel there is a part of her left behind in this dress. Her hands touched and worked the thread with such care that I hold the material as if it were holding her hands. I long to see her once more and I miss her above all else, since I know no matter how hard I try or what plane I get on, I will never see her again. She was an amazing woman who came from nothing, lost everything yet managed to raise 4 brilliant children, two who went on to become chemical engineers, one was a teacher and the other a journalist by trade. I know hold onto to the few items that have survived both my brother's and my childhood. Emma has worn all of them, a yellow, a white and a blue sweater and now this dress. All that remain is another dress still too big for her, and actually a costume that my grandma made for my mom as a child. It is another fabulous garment, this red flamenco dress that I got to wear for Halloween when I was 9. It needs some TLC but nothing i wont be able to fix and one day Emma will look fierce as she goes trick or treating. So for Valentines day she wore THE dress and looked adorable.






Valentine's day

So we celebrated our 2nd Valentines day as a family and once again we found ourselves at Papatzul, the first, authentic Mexican restaurant we have found in city. They make the best margaritas, sopes, taquitos and mole, yum yum. Emma really enjoyed the sopes with chorizo and we are proud to say she is not letting her raza down. She loves Negra Modelo, queso y chile!!! Viva Mexico! She behaved so well, we were impressed. After stressing whether or not to take her with us, we decided it was best to celebrate as a family. We just held our breathe and brought along our new best friend, Mr. laptop, so she could watch Yo Gabba Gabba if times got dire. By the time we arrived she was so hungry that she just sat there quietly and ate her food and looked out the window. It took a while for us to get our food, so we knew our time was limited with our angel and soon the little gremlin would come out. Luckily, Muno, Foofa and the gang where able to distract her as we ate our food, in peace, without being rushed or looked at by couples who realize why they haven't had children. It was lovely afterwards to just walk the streets of the city up to the Strand and Barnes and Nobles to look at some books. I should just be a buyer for a book store since I can spend hours looking at Children's Books. It was just a great day, unpretentious and relaxing. I find if you have little to no expectations, then things just fall into place and you end up being pleasantly surprised. from the back

she is so nosy

my beautiful baby

she loves purses and totes, like her mama

emma is sleepy...nap time




she loves Yo Gabba Gabba


emma eating her lunch

emma gets a present



u can see her little horns coming out





striking a pose, such a model

Thursday, February 11, 2010

snow day!!

strut

look what i can do!

what is it?

try and catch me

she's off




we meet again old squirrel friend


emma running back and forth

Im just another proud parent

Emma amazes us each day. She does little things that just blow our minds; and yes, I believe all parents believe their kids are baby genius. On Tuesday, Feb 9, Emma scolded Gato. He as single handedly destroyed her foam playmat by using it as his own personal scratching post. Every time we hear that grating, plucking sound, we yell at him, "No gato, no!" Apparently kids really do learn by example and WILL pick up everything. That morning Gato started his daily dose of destruction and all of sudden I hear emma say "neh gato neh,neh" She cant seem to say words NO yet, so it sounds like she is a Russian baby. It was so endearing that she took it upon herself to scold that little rat bastard. And emma is a fan of her belly button, pointing it out to you when you ask her in spanish "donde esta tu ombligito?". She will also point to yours if you are brave enough to show her your belly. Last night she started to recognize ducks and say some sort of version of pato and during Biz' beat of the day emma started to beat box herself. The thing is you need to catch her doing most of these things without letting her know you are watching her. If she becomes aware she has an audience she will stop and good luck getting her to repeat it. She is my lil' princess/wrecking ball. practicing her animal noises

yesterday's outfit

Yesterday, Feb 10 was a snow day!! Anthony and I didnt have to go to work. We got around 6- 8 inches and it looks like a real winter wonderland. Emma was real crabby yesterday. I think she was constipated, the last gift from noro, and her front canines are coming in. I put her in a fun skirt yesterday cuz i felt playful. Anyway, not much else to say. from the back.

top and headband, Janie and Jack
skirt, Gymboree


two weeks ago, right before Noro strikes.

no more pics please.



emma is getting real good at certain animal noises. she loves the pig, dog, horse and cow best.



she got pulled over for having a little too much tequila



dress by target
smile, priceless


i feel she looks just like me in this photo.