Julia's Baptism

On November 22, Julia Grace was baptized at St. Philip's Church in Coral Gables. This is the church I've grown up in. I was confirmed and married here, as was my brother. My friend Enid Lorenzo and my sister-in-law Ceci are Julia's Godmothers, my brother Don is her Godfather. Our pediatrician Dr. Ernie was there too, because his nephew was also getting baptized that day. And of course Julia cried when she saw him. Poor Dr. Ernie. Our new Rector, Mary Beth Conroy, did a great job. Julia didn't make a sound when she was getting water poured all over her head!

Cake from Sweet Art by Lucilla.... mmmm Vanilla Rum!

Tia Maddie, Tia Enid, me and Julia and Uncle Don

Sarah and Georgia with me and Julia

Wish I could lick the cake mirror too!

Tia Ceci, Mom, Betty, Tia Enid, me and Olivia, and Tia Maddie

Shell and Rick with Grandmother

My Little Pilgrim

Olivia's Pre-K class at St. Stephen's had a class party for Thanksgiving and they performed a couple of songs for us. Talk about so adorable!! Now I get why there are obsessive parents that try to record every bit of performance, even if it means holding a video camera up to your face the whole performance... I won't be one of THOSE parents...umm... er... oh.

Babo's Birthday

We won't tell you how old Babo turned this year, but we had a fun family dinner night to celebrate it. There's nothing like Shorty's Bar-b-que, a Publix cake, and a rousing game of Duck, Duck, Goose! You should click here to view it.

More Halloween Fun

My Little Pumpkin

Our neighbors Luke, Kim, Noah and Tony Tremols

The Halloween Party for the Pre-K class at St. Stephen's School

That's Olivia's friend Amelia. Cute shirts!

Halloween

So I had purchased this beautiful witch costume for Olivia and a cute little pumpkin outfit for Julia. Did Olivia want to put the costume on? Of course not. She wanted to wear her Cinderella costume (again.) Nor did we wish to torture the baby with the pumpkin outfit because it was 80 degrees outside. C'est la vie!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but this year I wasn't going to dress up. I was just too exhausted. But at the last minute I decided to put the bee costume on, because it's very hard to not get in the Halloween spirit when your three year old is asking "Where is your costume, Mommy?"

Cutie Pie

A friend of mine at work had her grandmother send this dress from Puerto Rico.

"Daddy changed my diaper and then left me hangin'...."

While they're up in the air, I might as well take a picture of them! How cute are these toes!!! I just want to eat them!

Heavenly Hosts

And Lo, the Angel appeared, with a multitude of Heavenly Hosts, saying "Fear not; For I bring News of Great Joy. For on this day, the child shall sleep for 7 hours straight." And the People Rejoiced througout the Land.

So Fresh and So Clean

Babies fresh out of the bathtub are at their yummiest, wouldn't you agree? (press the little play button at the bottom of the screen.)

Yeeee Haw, Y'all!

What on earth is my 87 year old grandmother doing on a horse? My aunt and uncle live in Hawthorne up near Gainesville, and they have recently become horse owners. I love this picture because it reminds me how Grandmother is such an inspiration and role model for our whole family, and moments like this just remind me to go ahead and live your best life!

Poor Dr. Ernie

This is Julia's first doctor's visit when she was a week old. Big sister Olivia is absolutely in love with her pediatrician, Dr. Ernie (what's not to love, right?) Unfortunately, it took about two years for her to get to that point. We would take a picture of Olivia with Dr. Ernie at each office visit for the first year, and they are all the same; Dr. Ernie is smiling, Olivia is sobbing. Now it's Julia's turn. Poor Dr. Ernie....

Olivia's First Theatre Experience

Olivia and I went with Mimi to the Miracle Theatre in downtown Coral Gables to see the Actors' Playhouse production of "Alice in Wonderland". It was Olivia's first theatre show; she was very good and only got a little antsy the last ten minutes of the show. I love that I can take her to the Miracle Theatre because I used to go there all the time as a kid to see movies (back when the movie screens were REALLY big because there were only two or three theatres!) I remember going there to see "Grease" with my best friend Elizabeth Vance when it came out in 1978. Thank goodness the City of Coral Gables is so committed to preserving its cultural and historic places because the theatre had fallen onto hard times and at one point was so dilapidated that nobody thought it would ever be brought back.

Olivia with the Queen of Hearts and the Caterpillar after the show

Our Neighborhood Block Party

This was the second year that our neighborhood had a Halloween block party, and it will probably be an annual event for many years to come. We have wonderful neighbors, young and old, and there are so many kids that live here and will grow up together. We got a permit from the County to block off one street, put up a couple of bounce houses, and everyone brought food. It's a great time for us adults to get to know each other better and the kids had a blast doing those time-tested traditional activities kids love; running around in the street and playing in the sprinklers!

 Me with my neighbor Kim.  Maria served up some Witches Brew..... and she made a mean lechon asado! (or roasted pork, Cuban style, for you non-Miamians!)

The kids played some games, while Tony was the master of the Cotton Candy machine.

Emmy and Finley stopped by to hang out with Olivia, and I got in on the sprinkler action...

Katie, Brette and Addie came over, but Julia was too tired to play.

Last year we had a really cute "parade" down the street for the kids in their Halloween costumes. We had every intention of doing that again this year, but because it was 90 degrees, the kids took off all their costumes within the first few minutes of the party!

Olivia Climbs a Tree

When I was a kid, I used to love climbing the trees at our house on Sevilla. We had a good climbing Avocado tree in the backyard, and a great tree in the front yard (that the current owners took down so they could put in a circular driveway. UGHH.) My brother and I would stay up in the trees for hours, taking books and toys up there with us. It finally felt like Olivia could handle it, so I encouraged her to try climbing this little tree in our front yard. Granted, she was only about a foot off the ground, but it's a start!!

Being a Baby Is Hard Work

Up All Night

So Julia is now four weeks old, and is still getting up to eat every three hours. If you were to say to me, "You do look a little tired," I would have to retort, "Gee, but aren't you Master of the Obvious!" Sorry, the sleep deprivation instigates the sarcasm. However, tonight she last ate at 9:30 p.m. and it is now 2:00 a.m. A four and a half hour cycle!!!!! Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? I've been afraid to go to sleep because I know that as soon as I do, she will get up. (I know, it's not at all logical, is it??)

Mommy and Julia

I've noticed that there aren't very many photos of me with Olivia when she was an infant. I think that's because I was so busy taking everyone else's picture with her, that I forgot to get people to take pictures of me with her! So I'm making an effort to get more pictures with Julia...

Olivia Warms Up to Her Little Sister

We've been real careful about making sure Olivia feels included in the endless day to day tasks that involve taking care of the baby, but haven't wanted to "push" the baby onto her. We casually ask her if she wants to hold the baby, and she always says no. Finally, after 4 weeks, Julia got to have a bath with her sister, and yesterday, Olivia actually asked to hold the baby, so I sat them on my bed together. Olivia would caress Julia's fine, black hair, smoothing it down, and told me, "She's OK Mommy, you can go now. She's fine." Olivia's on her way to being a great big sister.

Babo and Julia

My dad (who Olivia calls Babo, which is actually the nickname he had given to his own grandfather) is resistant to holding newborns... he was like that with Olivia too. Didn't he have two children of his own?? You're not going to break her, I swear! At any rate, I plopped Julia in his lap and started taking pictures, because she will never be this small again and is already visibly bigger, even at just 4 weeks old. Kind of looks like another baby he was holding in 1973, don't you think?

Olivia the Photographer

It is really interesting to see what pictures a three year old takes when you let her have the digital camera. It's wonderful not having to worry about wasting the film. We can let her go nuts! Naturally, she is going to take pictures of the things that are important to her: her playroom, the dog, and of course, "B," her trusty blanket!! It's fascinating to see how everything looks from her perspective.... like when she took a picture of the microwave. I've never had to "look up" at the microwave!! And no wonder she sometimes shies away from Marley; Olivia's face is right in Marley's licking range, isn't she!