What my daughter has taught me

I thought it would be a good idea to write what I'm learning from my daughter...

Life is worth living, worry free, just live in the present.

We have it all, no matter what our circumstances might look like.

Never give up! No matter how hard it might seem, don't give up!!

Live by example, you don't know who might be watching!

Enjoy the magic and wonder of the world, a butterfly, a flower, a tree, a bird, a cat (or 2 or 3).

A smile is worth a million words

A kiss is always welcome

A million kisses are even more welcome.

Baths are always a delight

It's great to have a home, someone who receives you with open arms, a hug and kisses

And... we have the best daddy in the world!

Giggles and more giggles

So AJ now does this really cute thing... she squirms and lets out a little scream and giggles. She wrinkles her nose when she smiles, she's always done that and when my mom was visiting, she told me that I do that.

We went out last night to a local shopping center, The Grove. It's always been my favorite shopping center or "mall" it's an outdoor mall. Last night Santa was there and they had several snow machines on the roof of the mall so we got "snowed on", it was a nice touch. It was a bit chilly so AJ was all bundled up, I kept checking her hands and face to make sure she wasn't too cold but she wasn't, as a matter of fact, her hands were pretty warm. I wanted to take pictures of her at the beautiful tree that they had (a 110 ft. fir), but, unfortunately she fell asleep and didn't wake up until we were ready to go home. I thought for a moment about having her take a picture with Santa but the line was huge, it was cold and the whole Santa idea doesn't quite sound romantic to me :) I think we lose the meaning of Christmas by having kids believe in Santa.

AJ ahora hace cosas que me parecen muy lindas una de ellas es que pega un gritito y se ríe a carcajadas. Arruga la naricita cuando se ríe, siempre ha hecho eso, cuando mi mamá vino de visita me dijo que yo hago eso también.

Anoche salimos a un centro comercial llamado "The Grove". Este lugar siempre ha sido mi centro comercial favorito porque es al aire libre. Anoche Santa Claus estaba alli, y pusieron unas máquinas que producen nieve, un toque muy bonito. AJ se fue totalmente cubierta porque había mucho frío, a cada rato se me dió por chequearla para ver si estaba lo suficientemente tapada, pero si, sus manitas siempre estuvieron calientitas. Quise tomarle fotos pero pude porque en cuanto llegamos se durmió y no se despertó hasta que ibamos de salida. Por un momento consideré tomarle fotos con Santa pero la verdad es que la idea de Santa Claus no me parece muy buena, en parte porque enseñarle a los niños a creer en Santa se pierde totalmente lo que uno celebra ese dia (el nacimiento de Cristo).

What a weekend!

Joseph has taken the initiative to watch the baby on weekends. So starting Friday night to Sunday, he gives me a break so I can sleep in, go out with friends, etc.

I don't know exactly what happened but on Saturday night, Angelina woke up 3 times which is weird because she now sleeps through the night. It's as if she knew that it was Joseph's turn to get up and take care of her. Anyhow, he survived to say the least and I, got a good night's sleep.

On Sunday in between loads of laundry, I put up our Christmas tree. Joseph and I had bought new ornaments last year, they are all red and very pretty so our tree looks really great. It was so cool to see her expression when she saw the lights on the tree. She loves lights and music.

One of my best friends, Lucie gave her a "gym" by Fisher Price which has this really cool star with music that plays whenever you move the bars on the gym.

I always place her on the pad of the little gym and she looks up and giggles and talks to the star as it's playing songs. It's really cool because it lights up with the melodies. It's really great, I usually have her play with the gym while I work. I've been pretty busy lately translating and it's great to be able to watch her and work at the same time.

Well, that's it for now.

NOW IN SPANISH:

Joseph se ha tomado la iniciativa de cuidar a la bebé los fines de semana para que yo pueda descansar o salir con mis amigas.

Este sábado fue bien interesante porque por algun motivo el domingo en la madrugada la bebé decidió no dormir, y se despertó tres veces, lo cual es poco común para ella, pues siempre se duerme toda la noche.

El domingo decidí instalar nuestro arbolito de Navidad, mientras lavaba ropa en la lavadora del edificio donde vivimos. Me moría por ver la reacción de la bebé cuando viera el arbolito.

Una amiga mia, Lucie, le regaló a la bebé un juguete de Fisher Price que se llama "gimnasio" que tiene una estrella con música que se alumbra con la melodía. Este es el juguete favorito de AJ, le fascina ver la estrellita, y le habla y se rie con ella. A mi me ayuda mucho tener este juguete porque me deja trabajar en mis traducciones y al mismo tiempo la puedo cuidar.

Bueno, eso es todo por el momento.