Yes We Can

Friday, February 29, 2008

Emmanuel and I had the opportunity to attend rally supporting Barak Obama last night here in San Antonio. When Obama finally came out (we got a babysitter for Emma and we really wanted to hear the whole speech) the energy in that place was amazing! The whole time he was talking I felt chills down my body because of the amount of people cheering and the positive message that he was giving. I really admire his attitude of trying to bring people together and focusing on what we can change instead of dwelling on the negative. It was a neat sight to see whites, blacks, Latinos, and even Indians and kids all there to support his message. It gave me a little more hope in the American people. (Not that they are Obama fans, but that they believe his message that we are all created equal and that seeing our similarities, not our differences, can unite our nation.) You could tell Obama's character is genuine - and regardless of if he wins the presidency, the senate needs more like him.


Ga-taa!




So Emma learned the word "gata" (cat) over the Christmas break, but she didn't start saying it regularly until a couple of weeks ago. We went to dinner at Eric's house, Emmanuel's friend from work, and there were 2 cats and 2 dogs there. Each time she saw a dog or cat, she yelled, "ga-taa!" Ever since then, these are all the "cats" she's met. She pretty much calls any animal or insect, or even President Bush today, gata. We were getting the car waxed the other day, and we were waiting outside. There was a grasshopper on the building post, and I presented it to her as a bug. She didn't want to say bug, I guess, because she just burst out as loud as she could as we were walking away, "gata!" as she pointed to the post. I couldn't help but laugh out loud.



Emma's Favorite Song

Monday, February 25, 2008

La cancion favorita de Emma
Esta es para ti, suegra! Tenemos una semana tratando de capturar un video bien en que Emma baila, y aqui esta. Su favorita cancion es "si las gotas de lluvia" con Barney. Emmanuel arreglo la tele para que Emma podia ver un video de Barney por internet. No le gusta ver la tele mucho a Emma, pero cuando esta Barney, si!

So Emmanuel is brilliant and figured out that we could use the Wii to get the internet on the TV, and so he presented Emma with the Spanish version of "if all the raindrops" with Barney. The first time he did it, she was dancing up a storm. But of course I took the video vertically and don't have a way of flipping it and uploading it (stupid Movie Maker formatting) so here is a toned down version of what she does when she hears this song. Oh, and interesting fact, we tried out the same video in English and she wouldn't pay any attention to it.

p.s. anytime Emma gets really happy, like in church when she meets a new friend, she lifts her dress up in the air to show her belly?!

Pictures Can Say 1000 Words

Friday, February 22, 2008

Indoor Cat

Monday, February 18, 2008

Gata Domesticada
!Emma tiene miedo del pasto! !No lo quiere tocar con el mano!

Today Emmanuel got off work early, and we decided to take Emma outside to find some real grass, (since she's started to run when we chase her). We found a perfectly manicured baseball field at USAA, and set her down on her feet. Her first instinct was to run because we were chasing her, but then she lost her balance and started to cry. She wasn't crying because she got hurt - she was crying because she didn't want to touch the grass! She just wanted to be held. She eventually would sit on the grass and even take a few steps, but at the end of our "accustom the baby to grass" session, she still wouldn't touch it. Hilarious.

Pictures to follow soon!

Words Emma Can Say/ Las palabras que puede decir Emma

Sunday, February 17, 2008





Suegra - te prometo que voy a poner un video de Emma bailando. Nada mas necesito 2 dias :-)

There is a story behind each one of these words, but I notice that I write long posts, so if you want to hear a story, make a comment about the word you're most interested in. By the way, she doesn't say the words in parenthesis, those are only for translation of explanation.)

1. cracker (galleta)
2. mas (more - food, of course)
3. papa (dad)
4. gata (cat)
5. na (no)
6. po-po (I think you can figure it out)
7. la (she says this in a desperate way when she wants you to do something, like read a book)
8. ba-ba (bye-bye/adios)
9. mama
10. bon bon (marshmallow...he he he)

There are probably more, I just can't think of them right now. I'll probably be adding to the list as the days go by. She understands lots more than that; for example (se entiende mucho mas que las palabras arriba; por ejemplo) "Emma, apagalo" y lo hace. I tell her in Spanish to flip the light switch and she does it.

We love Emma so much and she makes us laugh everyday. Yesterday we had a really fun baby shower here at our place and Emma was gone with papi for about 3 hours. I realized how much time we really spend together and how used to that I am, because I missed her so much! She is getting so big walking around like she owns the place and even trying to run! We were chasing her around today and she got a kick out of it stumbling and laughing like a little borracha.

Here is Emma with her sunglasses that she only wears outside. She loves to be out on the porch to get her vitamin D.

Happy...Valentines Day???

Thursday, February 14, 2008




It was a pretty peculiar Valentine's Day (evening). Emmanuel was a sweetheart and got delivered for me a bouquet of beautiful tulips, and that was nice surprise, because that was first time he got me real flowers. Emma got a new pair of sunglasses, and we tried them out when we went to the grocery store. She always takes mine right off my face and tries to put them on hers. Now that she has her own, she will only keep them on her face when we are outside. So as soon as we got out of the car, I put them on her, and as we are walking to HEB everybody is laughing at her, and then as soon as we get in the shade, she rips them off.

So this evening I made a variation of Rachael Ray's "surf and turf tex-mex style" as seen on yesterday's show. Emmanuel loves shrimp, so I thought a little steak for me and Emma, a little shrimp for him, sounds good. Things started going wacky when I turned the broiler on. The smoke alarm kept going off. It went off so frequently that Emmanuel just stayed by the alarm with a huge board to fan it. Whenever he would walk away, it would go off again. Even Emma would start waving her arms when she would hear it haha. He eventually got out the blow dryer. Yep. My hair dryer. It worked though, so long as he stayed there with it on all of the time the broiler was on. So then the oven went off and we all ate, and Emma got all full of beans. We had to give her a bath to get them out of her nose, hair, ears, etc. I put Emmanuel in there in the bathroom with her so I could clean up. So then I hear, "Michelle, you had better come here a minute...like now." I walk in and the bath water is milky brown. The first thing that came to my dirty mind was "oh *hit". Emma pooped in the tub. I knew it would happen someday, but I thought I was pretty swift and would avoid it for a while. Now the problem is that Emmanuel just can't handle poop. It triggers his gag reflex. I thought he was just a big baby, but he really has a problem with it (hahaha poor guy). Sorry to dwell in the land of BMs, but I just have to say is was the grosest thing I've had to do as a mom. (And there was no help unless I wanted to clean barf, too.) There were whole beans in there. There were solids and liquids. Various solids and colors. I guess she had too much fiber. She loves beans, but I think it's time to lay off the little black boogers for a while.

I am happy to say that things have calmed down now, and I think we're going to enjoy a new episode of LOST as soon as Emma goes to bed and eat some Valentine's dessert.

Video Catch-Up

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Hi Everyone. Sorry it's been a while since I've posted. Over the weekend I wasn't feeling well, and this week I am planning Valentine's Day and a baby shower for one of my buddies, so I've been busy. But, I hope it was worth the wait. I've got a couple of cute videos that I've been meaning to post. Too bad I just spent a whole day trying to upload the other one, and it wouldn't upload. I guess I should take shorter videos...I just don't want to stop recording because something might happen!

Cozy Little Nooks

Tuesday, February 5, 2008





It never ceases to amaze me how creative little kids are. Just when you think your house is boring and you have to take them outside or pay for an indoor gym subscription for babies, they discover a whole new territory that keeps them happy for days.

Emma has been off-limits in the bathrooms and in the kitchen for months now. Ever since she started crawling and lifting herself up, she headed straight for the toilet to swish. Well, the past couple of days I've been showering while she's still awake because she stopped swishing and she likes to watch me shower (haha yikes). After a couple of minutes of watching me, she got all quiet. I knew she was up to something peculiar, so I peeked out the shower to see. She was no where in sight. So, I hurried to get out and found her inside the bathroom cupboards! She was just happy as a lark in there. She loves little spaces like that - she does the same thing in the living room with the bookcases and with the high chair. We took out a shelf in the living room so she can sit in there. I guess it reminds her of the womb. By the way, this time the big mess you see is because she had to make room to get in (usually it's just because we like it that way haha).

Let's Settle This Once and For All

Sunday, February 3, 2008

So, my family says Emma looks like me, and Emmanuel's says she looks just like him when he was a baby. So it's nice that we have state of the art face recognition technology to tell us the truth! I did it 3 times with different pictures, and the results come out each time the same. Emma is officially (her looks at least) half me and half Emmanuel! By the way dad and mom, I did it for me too, and I supposedly look half like dad and half like mom, so it must run in the family!

Thanks to Michelle O. for the link!