Karina is 9 months!!

My precious Karina Lynn is now 9 months old. She crawls with her arms and toes (belly dragging on the ground). Karina is very fast at her "ARMy" crawl - especially if she's after something she's not supposed to be near. After just a few days at 9 months old, she pulls herself up like a pro and is "cruising" furniture. She is very healthy and a chunky girl. We love all the rolls of baby fat!! She loves eating and trying new foods - she says "yum, yum" through most of her meals. She is almost always eating. She nurses every 3 hours and has 3 meals and 2 snacks daily. She loves bathtime where she splashes her sister who hates to be wet. Cecilia puts up with the splashing because it's her baby sister. Karina gets a bit jealous when Mommy is fixing Cecilia's hair, so I am sure to brush her sparse hair at the same time. Her favorite words are Da-Da. Karina is a velcro baby and is attached to Mario every minute he is home. She calls Danny "Da" and Cecilia "Ba" for big sister. She only says Ma-Ma when she has to like when she's cranky and wants to be held. Karina is an amazing communicator. She makes sure that she is understood and her needs are met. She is by far the loudest in the family which can be a bit overwhelming at times. Karina has just started to wriggle during diaper changes. She loves to play rough with Danny when he comes home from school - she really misses him while he is gone. 9 months already - wow, how time flies!

Santa & first snow 2010

Not sure which is more fun for the kids....eating the snow, playing in it or drinking hot chocolate.

Cecilia makes her first Tamales

Cecilia had the most fun making tamales this year. She helped in almost every step of the oh, so very long process. We all had fun experiencing this with her. She helped add the ingredients to the masa with Tia Veronica and Tio Tetey. Cecilia helped Tio Yelin with washing the corn husks. She helped her Papi with mixing the masa too. As always she loved eating them. We all loved eating them too especially because Cecilia added an extra ingredient this year - lot of kisses that she blew into the masa.

Halloween

So, I am a bit behind in my blog posts. Here are some pictures from Halloween 2010.

Karina is 6 months

Karina is now 6 months old - unbelievable!!! She is almost 20 lbs (19 lbs. 14 oz.). She remains in the 100% percentile for weight (if you line up 100 average American 6 month old girls, she'd be the heaviest) and 97% for length. I just switched her closet from 6-9 month clothes to 12 month clothes. She is very healthy and happy. She is happiest when her brother and sister are bouncing around for her entertainment. When she is unhappy, she can scream so loud my ears crackle. Karina has 6 teeth and all of her gums are swollen; we are expecting more teeth shortly. She is going through a growth spurt right now, the spoonfuls of baby food can not reach Karina's mouth quick enough to keep her happy. She still has the gag reflex which is keeping her from eating food with a heavier consistency. We are having fun giving her crumbs of table foods - she can't wait to get her hands on the big kid foods she sees everyday. During Karina's 6 month checkup last week, she received several vaccinations which brought tears to not only her eyes but her very sympathetic sister's eyes as well. Below are videos of Karina's newest tricks. (If you receive an auto email of my blog posting, you will need to go to the blog to view the videos).

Cecilia's - first days of school

On the first day of school, I recorded the events on our camcorder. On the 2nd day of school, I recorded them on our digital camera.

Cecilia has just begun 3 year old pre-school. She attends school on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9:15 - 11:45. This is Cecilia going to school on the 2nd day of classes. This was very much like the first day of school - just different clothes. She didn't even look back!

This is Cecilia coming home from her 2nd day of school - again a re-peat of day 1 except the clothes. She is so proud of herself. After I pick up Cecilia from school I see her smiling face which is beaming with pride for being such a big school girl! We are so proud of her too!

Siblings...ya think?

Some days I think Karina favors Danny, some days Cecilia. Here are 5 month old pictures of each of them - see for yourself and let me know what you think.

This is Danny at 5 months.

Cecilia at 5 months.

Karina at 5 months.

Karina's 5 month update

Here are some recent pictures to show how much Karina has grown. Karina is just shy of 20 lbs. and really enjoying every day!! Her eyes continue to change. They are definitely not blue anymore but they have so many colors in them, it's hard to call them brown quite yet.


Here are a couple of pictures of Karina's first two teeth. The first one popped in just before Karina's 4 month b-day and the second just two days later. Along with the teething, there has been lots of drool and fingers and whole fists in her mouth, but no fevers or other symptoms.

Karina's first trick is to stick out her tongue. As soon as Mario walks in the room, her tongue goes out. It is her way of communicating that she wants to play.

Karina is loving her cereal and fruits and vegetables. This is a photo from her first bites of cereal - it was love at first bite. She demanded cereal the night immediately following her first encounter. As soon as I began making Danny & Cecilia their dinner, she wanted hers too!

God bless Karina - we love her so.

Karina's 4 month update

Time flies and Karina is growing so quickly!!! At her 4 month Doctor visit she was off the charts at 17 1/2 lbs. She can now roll over from back to front. She has 2 teeth (bottom front) - one of which came in before her 4 month birthday breaking a Delgado household record. She is having lots of fun sticking out her tongue on queue. This week we began giving her cereal. She loved her cereal from the very first bite. I am so very blessed that she sleeps through the night most nights as well. Karina loves watching her brother and sister run around and becomes very excited when they talk or play with her.

Happy Birthday Gramma!

In June, we were blessed to celebrate my Mom's 60th birthday.

Mom and her 10 grandkids (#10 in 2010)!!

Silly faces.....

From left: Me, Mom, Pami and Kathy.

3 generations, hopefully we'll get a 4 generation picture soon.

Big kid activities

Danny enjoys karate, t-ball and his favorite is soccer. Cecilia is having lots of fun in her first activities too - ice skating and ballet.


Danny is rounding 3rd and on his way home.

Cecilia is enjoying some ice time.

Danny earned his orange belt this spring.

Cecilia before her first ballet class.

Playa del Carmen - III

Playa Del Carmen - Karina

Playa Del Carmen, Mexico

In May 2010 we went on our first vacation - outnumbered! We took the kids to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We stayed at the Riu palace for a week. The resort was amazing - I don't know how we can possibly top this vacation - it was perfect!! The kids were great. Karina loved long naps in the shade of a palm tree on a lounge chair poolside! Danny and Cecilia enjoyed swimming, playing in the sand, the kids club activities and dancing on stage nightly.

kids pictures

I took Danny (6) and Cecilia (3) for their annual pictures and Karina for her first pics (3 mos.).