What a year...!

We're leaving soon for the Philippines, but I wanted to wish all of our friends and family a very happy new year.  We had a wonderful Christmas, starting with Christmas Eve dinner with Lola Elle, Uncle Nate, Lolo Bobby, and Lola Estella.  I made beef roast, pork tenderloin and various shrimps.  

The next day, we all slept until about noon and just relaxed in the morning.  We headed to Lola Shirley's in the evening and had dinner with and presents with the family.  Joaquin was definitely the big winner for presents there!  

We ended back at our house and opened our presents very late at night.  

I think Uncle Nate ended up being the big winner for Joaquin's presents...he got him a set of mini-maracas...they are the perfect size for his hands and he loves them.  

He seems to have grown quite a bit in the last month.  Not in size...he actually lost some weight and seems to be holding steady for actual size...but he sits like a pro and is lifting up really well on his belly.  He's also exercising his legs by bouncing up and down when we hold him.  He can sit up on his own from a reclining position.  In the past few days, he's become extremely interested in opening and shutting things...looks like we'll be babyproofing when we get back!  He has also gotten his first mole...a small one on the front of his right leg.  

And he'll go into peels of laughter now.  He is especially ticklish on his right side and he loves peek a boo so much that sometimes he'll laugh just when we say peek a boo.  

What everyone seems to comment on with him though is how much he loves to talk.  He likes to look at you and have a full conversation.  You ask him a question and he'll respond...back and forth for quite some time.  His daycare lady calls him quite the gentleman.  

We have had an extraordinary year and we feel extremely blessed for all we have.  We hope that all of you who share in our lives have a wonderful and blessed new year as well.  

Merry Christmas!

Can you believe it?!? 6 Months!!!!

6 months! Can you believe it? I certainly can't...what a blessing Joaquin has been in our lives. We can not imagine life without him, yet it seems like we just found out we were pregnant yesterday. We tried to take Joaquin's pic on the couch as usual...

...but we had much better luck on the floor where he could sit up on his own...

We are frequently saying (for Joaquin), "I want to do it myself" or "...like a big boy" or "I can do it, Mommy!" Anything we do or have, he wants to do or have. We have skipped the sippy cup and baby spoons because he doesn't want them...he wants to drink out of the glass and use the silverware just like us. Speaking of which, we tried his first 'solid' food on Saturday--yams. It was not a big hit...


...but the next day was getting better...

It's not great yet...he doesn't love it and will only eat a few bites before getting upset, but we'll get the hang of it.

He is sitting up pretty well on his own now, although not well enough to leave him by himself sitting. He is talking all the time and even has a 'word' he'll use consistently at similar times...'Baaaa' when he is not happy (we joke that he is saying "Baaad...baaaad....baaad"). Full conversations seem to be the norm now though with all kinds of syllables, intonations, call and response...it is so fun. And he continues to love the outside. Any time he is upset, we can bring him outside and it's immediately ok. We have a very happy little guy and we are so grateful for these first 6 months...here's hoping (probably fruitlessly!) that the next 6 won't go by so fast!

Who needs toys?

Seriously...a pile of junk mail is way more fun...

Happy Thanksgiving!

A little late, but I wanted to make sure I didn't miss Joaquin's first Thanksgiving! We started on Wednesday night at my mom's house:


Joaquin has gotten quite good at standing with little help. In this pic, Gideon just has his leg behind Joaquin's thighs...and this is when Joaquin is tired and a bit grouchy!

Thursday morning, Joaquin decided he could sit up on his own. This is pretty par for the course for Joaquin...you don't really see the process of him learning to sit up, he just decides one day that he can do it. So this is him on Thursday morning...

And by the end of the day he was sitting straight up! I didn't get it on film, because I was on tip over alert, but here he is just a few days later:

Later on Thursday's we went over to Gideon's aunt's house where Joaquin learned to play mah jong:

And then on Saturday, we had Lolo and the family over and went to an Italian restaurant. Joaquin and Uncle David are busy watching the football game:

It was a great Thanksgiving and we got to see everyone!