A Weekend Away

Agustin and I recently enjoyed a much-needed weekend away without kids. My parents were kind enough to watch Emilia and Mateo (thanks Mom and Dad!) while we headed to Madison for the wedding of two friends (we'd barely been back since moving away from there four years ago). We spent a day/night in Madison, where we visited all our old favorite places and watched the U.S. vs. England World Cup game at a popular sports bar, then headed out to farm country, where the wedding was held on the couple's property. It was a beautiful and very fun wedding, and we partied into the wee hours of the morning with old friends and new before retiring to our tent and camping out right there on the property. A big congratulations and best wishes to our friends, newlyweds Chris and Stephanie!

This is the first in a series of photos of Agustin dancing (a sure sign he's having a good time) with the sister of the bride (and her scooter). The others were a little too racy to post.

Mateo is One!

Little Man Mateo is now officially one year old! We celebrated his birthday at the beginning of the month with a small family gathering. As is to be expected with a first birthday, the birthday boy was as enamored, if not more so, by the wrapping as the gifts themselves, the older sibling was more than helpful with unwrapping said gifts, and the man of the hour was not quite sure what to think of his first experience with cake. But fun was had by all and our baby is turning into a little boy right before our eyes. He's trying to communicate a lot more with sounds and hand signals (and banging his head on the floor when he's tired and wants to be held), and I have decided that his first official (i.e. intentional) word was ball ("ba!"). He also loves putting Emilia's headbands in his hair all by himself (in the picture above he has one around his neck); I think he's trying to keep up with his ultra-fancy sister.

Mateo models the poncho Tio Jojo and Tia Tara brought him from Chile

And here are a few more pictures from the past few weeks:

Emilia models one of her many homemade costumes; I forget what she was supposed to be here, but take note that she's wearing puppets as slippers

Enjoying a warm day in the backyard; Mateo isn't a big fan of the big pools yet, but loves the bath and the little plastic pool

Although Mateo took his first steps several weeks ago, he has preferred crawling as his primary means of locomotion until just recently. Now he takes as many as 8-10 steps at a time and enjoys showing off his walking skills. He still looks like a drunken sailor most of the time, but our cheers and laughter just encourage him to keep practicing the walking. I'll bet it's his preferred way of getting around within a week or two.

With Yaya and Grandpa at a different birthday party (note Emilia and her doll are wearing matching outfits--the result of shopping with Yaya)

School's Out for the Summer....School's Out Forever (well, kind of)

May has come and almost gone. I passed my oral preliminary exam and prospectus for the PhD in April, then completed my final course at the beginning of May. That means I've completed every requirement for the PhD except that pesky little thing called the dissertation. It means my basic research plan for said dissertation has been approved. I will be collecting data in the fall, which will include a trip to Spain and one to Senegal (the former probably as a family and the latter solo). I'm hoping to officially become a "Dr." two years from now, if all goes according to plan. In the meantime, I am going to try not to stress too much over my research plans this summer, and plan to spend a lot of quality time with the family. These are just a few photos from earlier this month to demonstrate we're off to a good start.

Emilia's First Self-Portrait

This post is a bit belated, but I wanted to document Emilia's first self-portrait, which she did last month. She loves to color and had been improving by leaps and bounds. Several times she handed me pictures when I picked her up at the childcare center at the gym and I questioned whether they were really hers because it looked like someone had actually tried to color in the lines. I'm not quite sure why it didn't occur to me that she might just be improving. Heck, the girl knows how to write half the letters in the alphabet; why wouldn't her coloring skills be improving? Then one day I picked her up and she handed me a picture of Tinkerbell with her signature scribbling. "Nice picture," I said. "No Mommy! Look on the other side...it's me!" Sure enough, when I turned over the paper, there was a very distinguishable human figure. Not just a human figure, but a girl. Appendages, head, face, clothes, the whole deal. "It's me in my orange dress," she explained (although she does not own an orange dress). "I couldn't make the hair curly, so I just drawed it short," she said. Of course. And purple. This is definitely a keeper.

11 Months!

Mateo is 11 months old today, just one month shy of his first birthday. Hard to believe. He uses anything and everything (laundry basket, empty diaper box, stools, etc.) as a push toy these days and is practicing his balance, although he hasn't ventured a solo step yet as far as we've noticed. He loves vacuums (yes, vacuums), enjoys climbing back and forth through the side table in our living room until he's dizzy, has given himself yet another bloody lip (well, last time it was a bloody nose) by smacking his face on the hardwood floor, and has learned to sign "more" (particularly handy during snack time; see photo above). And he thinks his sister is the funniest person on the planet.

Emilia, who cannot be forgotten, has become a little fish. It helps that her amazing father takes her to the swimming pool four times a week. She is now swimming on her own and can even show you how she does the butterfly (she doesn't have the arms down yet, but the butt action is spot-on). She also loves dancing, although she isn't exactly the most graceful (must be genetic). She takes dance class at school once a week and enjoys showing everyone her ballet moves, but "dance party" is her favorite style by far. Oh, and "Dancing with the Stars" is her favorite TV show. Come on over and you won't be left out; get within a mile of one of her dance parties and Emilia will command you to "Dance! Dance!"

Double Digits!

Mateo is officially ten months old today! He is super vocal these days (although we don't kid ourselves with illusions that he's intentionally saying "Mama" or "Papa") and loves giving (well, receiving, really) high fives, playing with Tupperware, bashing his head against almost anything or smacking himself on the head, chewing on anything and everything (including electrical cords--ooops!), and playing "Soooo big!" He's a pretty laid-back little fellow (he kept accidentally rolling down the hill at my aunt and uncle's house on Easter and wasn't fazed in the slightest). We really couldn't ask for a better baby.

Proof that this summer is going to be very interesting

Tupperware!

Big blue eyes!

Exploring new finger foods

The bibs are almost as fun as Tupperware

The kids hard at work in their kitchen--these two are already best buds.

Happy Easter!

Painting Easter eggs. Emilia's fingers were more dyed than the eggs!

Emilia does a pretty awesome rabbit impression....without even trying!

Emilia enjoys a little "Strawberry Fluff" with Great Micky.

"Papa, Papa, come help me find eggs!"

"Found one!"