Curaçao getaway!

April 27th-29th

Iggy and I went on a mini trip to Curaçao...He went on a business trip and asked me to come along since we had the chance to leave the girls with my mom and his mom..

We left on Tuesday night and came back on Thursday... what wonderful 2 days! so relaxing!!

I was able to walk around downtown Curaçao while Iggy worked as well as enjoy the pool and the beach.... On our last night in the island, we had a romantic candlelight dinner by the water.. so amazing....

Of course, we missed the girls so much, but it was nice to have some couple down time..

We took amazing photos, which can be found by following this link

Sandra's Graduation

Congrats to my wonderful friend Sandra, who graduated today with a Master of Social Work from FIU. She graduated with honors and I was lucky enough to be with her on this special day!

Congrats Sandra! You made it!

Wordless Monday...

Photo by Olivia

Here's a picture of me taken by Olivia with her own toy camera... I gotta say I'm pretty impressed with her photography skills as well as with the quality of the pictures from this "toy"...
Ahhh! I'm happy to see Olivia's interest in photography... she definitely takes after her mommy! ;)

Museum of Discovery and Science

Today we went to the Museum of Discovery and Science, located in Ft. Lauderdale, with our friends the Diaz family...
The place was great for kids to play and spend a few hours learning about science and other fun stuff... It is arranged very nicely and it has a lot of different sections, including the human body, space science, planes and sea creatures....
Olivia had a blast with her BFF Isabella, which makes the outing all worth it...

Here are the two friends wearing matching shirts...Olivia insisted we gave Isabella a shirt just like hers, so they could both be dressed as "Big Sisters" for the day.. it was cute...

...and the "Little Sisters" came along too and played at the museum to the best of their abilities...Here's Gaby standing and playing with a cute toy...

...and here is baby Ale...with her serious face...

Memory Thursday...

Today I'm going to post pictures of My First Pregnancy, which started in October 2006 when I found out I was expecting Baby #1... This pregnancy was very good and super easy.. I found out I was having a girl in late January and Olivia was born on July 17th, 2007.. All these pictures bring back some awesome memories...

This one was taken at 22 weeks, when I started to feel movement and get rounder...

This is my favorite pregnancy picture.. I was taken at 25 weeks.. we went to Naples Beach for the day and took some awesome shots...

This one was taken at 30 weeks.. by this time, the belly was getting really heavy I was starting to feel very uncomfortable....

This one was taken at 36 weeks at a friend's wedding... It was exactly a month and a day before Olivia was born... I danced the night away at that wedding and Olivia danced inside of me.. it was fun...

...and this one is my last belly picture, taken a day before Olivia was born, right before leaving to the hospital for my scheduled induction... I was 40 weeks and 3 days....soooo ready to meet her!!! I was feeling huge!

One month 'til we're in Paris!!!

So, the official countdown has begun!!!! In just one month we will be boarding a plane to Paris!!!
I'm so excited, I still can't believe it!!!
Let the fun begin!!!

Wordless Monday...

Dorota's Baby Shower

Today I attended Dorota's baby shower, celebrated in a beautiful restaurant in South Beach...
Dorota is my best friend's sister and she is expecting a little boy, who will be named Matteo, due in June... She is a beautiful mommy to be and the baby shower was amazing...
Dorota was looking great in a blue dress and the scenery was great...

The food was absolutely amazing... I had Branzino Mediterranean with roasted potatoes... it was so yummy...

After that, we had some cake, which was delicious....

Here's a picture of the venue where the baby shower was held.. It was a restaurant right by the water... beautiful view...

Happy Baby Shower Dorota! Can't wait to meet little Matteo!!!

Happy Birthday Mari!!

Today is my friend Marianna's birthday and it is such a special day for me since she is my first friend ever! We met when we were 3 years old and went to pre-school together... I then changed schools when I was 5 years old and we lost touch....

...after a few years I was going through some old papers my mom had kept from when I was little and found her phone number... I called the number and the person who picked up the phone told me she no longer lived in that house... I was sad... He, however, happened to be Mari's uncle and gave me a current phone number... I called that number, we found each other again, and the rest is history....

Marianna now lives in Spain with her husband Placido, however we have managed to stay in touch and we love each other just as much as we did when we were 3!

She happens to be Isabella's aunt (Olivia's BFF), so we're always in the loop of each other's lives... AND I think it's so cute to see my daughter and her niece repeating history! ha ha!

Happy Birthday Mari!!!

Olivia is 33 months!

Now the REAL countdown begins.. Olivia will be 3 in just 3 months!! ahhhh!!!

Olivia is the light in my life... she makes me smile every day with her crazy ideas... what a smart girl she is!

She is now into headbands, purses and bracelets...such a girl!

Olivia loves dancing and music...that hasn't changed.... She sings and knows the lyrics to so many songs... and not children's music.. .I'm talking Lady Gaga, Jason Mraz and such! too funny!

She is the best big sister ever... so protective of Gaby and all of her surroundings...

At her request, her birthday party theme will be "Cinderella"...not a day goes by that she doesn't remind me of her wishes.. so I guess I will grant those! ;)

Happy 33 months to my little lady!

Gaby is 9 months!

My Gaby is 9 months old today! She is growing and thriving and is an amazing baby... I'm already planning her 1st birthday party and I'm just so overjoyed with the idea of my baby turning into a toddler...

Gaby is amazingly smart; she is sweet, talkative, super active and very interested in her surroundings...

She loves music and her favorite toy is her maraca.. she grabs it, starts shaking it and dances to her own tunes.. too cute!

She's also fascinated with Olivia... yes, I know!.. I have said this a million times, but it is just so amazing how every month their interaction increases and they are so engaged with each other...

Gaby crawls like a champ and pulls herself up to standing.. and she just started cruising yesterday!!! she's still not interested in standing on her own, but I'm sure that will come soon enough...

We had her 9 month check up today, she is now 17lbs and 27in long. She got her HepB booster and didn't cry at all..what a brave girl! Her doctor said she looks great!

Happy 9 months girl!

Happy "Tax Day"

Memory Thursday...

Today I'm going to post pictures of April 2008, when Olivia was Gaby's age...I love going through all these pictures and remembering when Olivia was a baby... I also love comparing my two girls and appreciating their differences... too fun!

Incomplete!!!

Iggy is away on another business trip and I feel so incomplete when he's not around...Not having him here really makes me think about how lucky I am to have him in my life...

Even if he goes for just a couple of days, I feel like I can't breathe when he's not here... I feel so lonely and yes.. INCOMPLETE! My nights are horrible... I wake up at least once every hour trying to hug him, thinking he's laying next to me... I miss him so much all the time...

...and to think we've only been together for 6 years... how did I live without him for so long? how did I manage to breathe when I didn't know him??

I am so blessed for being able to experience LOVE like this.. for having such a wonderful husband by my side and for needing someone to breathe! It sounds crazy but it's plain awesome! I love you hubby!

Wordless Monday...

Gumucio girls birthday party

Today we attended a fun pool party to celebrate Irene Victoria's and Valeria's birthdays, who happen to be a couple of weeks apart....The Gumucio sisters are my cousin's two girls, born in 2002 and 2007 respectively..
The party was really fun and the weather was great... It was Gaby's first time in the water and she really loved it... Olivia also had a wonderful time running around and playing in the pool...

This one right here is Irene Victoria, she will turn 8 years old on April 19th... I still remember the day she was born...and it feels like it was just yesterday...amazing...

...and this little cutie is Valeria Isabel, who turned 3 on April 6th... She is one of Olivia's good buddies, since they were born only 3 months apart... she is so much fun...

Olivia's swimming lessons

Today was Olivia's second swimming lesson and it was great to see how much she has progressed in just a couple of classes...

My friend Pechy and I hired a private instructor for our girls... Her name is Robyn and she is a professional swimmer as well as a lifeguard in Ft. Lauderdale Beach... she is awesome...

Both Olivia and Melissa had a very hard time adjusting to the idea of "swimming" and they were both terrified of the water and the swimming exercises, however, after a few attempts they were able to master the most important tasks and the lessons were successful...

We have a few more lessons left and I certainly hope Olivia gets closer to swimming by the summer!... it's so much fun!

Play date with Lindsay and Brooke

Today we had another one of those fun play dates with a fellow WTE baby and her mommy...
Lindsay came over with her baby Brooke, who was born just 4 days after Gaby.... The babies got to sit and play together and Lindsay and I chatted up... it was great...it's awesome to see the babies interact and grow up together...
Come back again soon girls!

Memory Thursday...

Today I'm going to post pictures of our Trip to Texas, which we took back in in 2006. Iggy's best friend (Damian) happened to be in Houston for business, so we decided to meet him up there since it's a lot closer than Argentina (that's where he lives)...
We went to Houston and Austin, which was an awesome experience since I got to visit the University of Texas at Austin, where my parents went to school... I loved walking around campus, imagining the times when they were there as college students... it was great!
Ever since I visited Texas, I've been wanting to move there...ahhh!! maybe one day!

Update on Gaby

I'm going to start by saying THANK YOU SO MUCH to everyone who has been praying for Gaby and asking about her health. All the good thoughts and positive energy really helped me get through these stressful days....

So here's the update: Today was Gaby's appointment with the GI doctor, the one that was going to tell me if anything was wrong with our baby girl, the one that was either going to give me relief or stress me out even more...

I went into the appointment with mixed feelings, not knowing what to expect... I waited a mere 20 minutes and was called in to see Dr. T, who happened to be amazingly nice and very caring...

As soon as he saw Gaby, he said "Why are you here?", so I proceeded to tell him that we had been referred by Gaby's pediatrician due to weight concerns and such...

He took a look at Gaby, reviewed her medical history and examined her... He asked me about her development, eating habits, etc... After an exam, he said to me: "Your daughter is perfect!"... Oh my God.. those are the sweetest words I have heard in a while!! He said her body is absolutely perfect and there is nothing wrong with her weight or her health...

He said that it is quite common for kids to drop on weight percentile after 6 months, based on the fact that growth after such age depends heavily on genetics. Both Iggy and I were "skinny" babies so he said it was very possible that she was skinny just like us...

I told him Olivia was a bit chubbier when she was little and he said that siblings can have different body frames and it didn't mean that one was healthier than the other...and that the most important things were cognitive and motor development and whether or not the baby was hitting milestones accordingly...which she obviously is!

I have to be honest and say that I was very relieved to hear all this and also happy that my motherly instinct was correct the whole time...

I thank God for this wonderful day and great appointment.. I love hearing great news, especially when they're about my daughter! God bless this day!

Wordless Monday...