What a Big Girl

This week Mia will be 18 months old. (It's her "half-birthday," as her cousin Adam likes to call it.) She had her checkup at the doctor yesterday, and everything looks great. We're all getting used to our new schedule (with me working full-time again), and she seems to really be enjoying her extra day at Nana Cindy's house. She is a full-fledged toddler now, and really has a mind of her own. She KNOWS what she WANTS. She's talking a lot, repeating much of what we say, and is going to the potty more often now. She likes to touch her sippy cup to your glass and say "Cheers!" She's learning new words every day such as "thank you," "I love you," "excuse me," "Obama," "eating," (as in "Mona is eating, so let's leave her alone") "night-night," and "I don't know." She also has a great sense of humor and makes us laugh all the time.

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Esta semana Mia cumple 18 meses. Tuvo su chequeo medico ayer y todo se ve muy bien. Nos estamos acostumbrando a nuestra nueva rutina ahora que estoy trabajando "full-time" otra vez. Mia parece que esta disfrutando su dia adicional en casa de "Nana" Cindy. (Ya nunca llora cuando la dejamos por la manana.) Cada dia esta mas nina que bebe, hablando mucho y repitiendo lo que oye como una cotorrita. Tambien esta usando su "potty" mas a menudo. Le gusta brindar con nosotros con su tasita. En Espanol ha aprendido unas cuantas palabras nuevas recientemente como: "cuna," "arroz," "media," "pollo," "caja," "agua," "bano" y "nino/a." Le encanta bailar y tiene un buen sentido de humor. Nos hace reir todo el tiempo.


Here is Mia testing out the potty.

"Hey, Mona, check out my new potty!"

Mommy got out the power tools and finally hung up the crocodile mirror that Santa brought.

End of Year Wrap-Up (Looks Like We Made It)

Hi everybody: Long time, no blog. We had some craziness since my last update which included an ice storm, then a foot of snow on top of that, a black eye for Mia (and one for Adam), a brother-in-law stranded in the Midwest (so glad we got you back safe, Sean!)... and oh yeah, Christmas!

The city was more or less paralyzed because of the snow and ice, but it was nice to see a lot of neighbors helping each other. And, to help us get over the cabin fever, we closed out the year with a bang at Christie and Sean's New Year's Eve party. (More photos here.) Needless to say, we are so glad 2009 is finally here!

Winter Wonderland

Portland got some snow yesterday, but we only got to play in it for a little while because of the 35 mph wind gusts! Still, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to put Mia in her adorable snow suit. See the rest of the photos here if you like.

(On another note, my sister has just joined the Internet world, so I'll be blogging in Spanish a little more often.)

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Ayer nevo en Portland, pero no pudimos jugar por mucho tiempo porque habia un viento de 35 mph. De todas maneras no pudimos perder la oportunidad de ponerle a Mia su trajesito de nieve. Ale - Tomamos estas fotos justo antes de hablar contigo ayer! Pueden ver el resto de las fotos aqui si quieren.

Mad Cow with Spiderman

Here are Mia and Adam on Halloween night (sorry I forgot to send these!). Mia was a little cow and Adam was Spiderman, her protector.


Mad cow! Mad cow!


Besitos!

Trick or Treat (videos)

Just in time for Halloween, Mia has a new trick. That's right, she's walking!


Here she is "zeroing in" on Nana Cindy's cat, Milo, on a beautiful fall morning.


And here are some other photos from this week:

Our "Tin" Anniversary

Last weekend Keenan and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary (and almost 15 together as a couple). We went out to a fancy dinner to celebrate, and I decided to dig up some old pictures from our dating years to see how much we've changed. Click here for a stroll down memory lane with us. Apologies for the poor quality of the pictures; they are before digital (gasp!). The traditional gift for the 10th anniversary is... tin. Is there anything more romantic? ;-)

October 2008

March 1994

October 1998

California Dreaming, Part II (video)

Mia discovered a yoga ball at Mimi's house and found her own unique way of using it.