What a difference 1yr makes!

Forget about making a cool ruler growth chart!  Who needs that when you have Santa, himself as the chart?  These two pics were taken just about 1 year in between each other at my aunt's house (that's her Santa).  Mateo isn't in the first pic because he was a fresh baby (just 11 days old) sleeping in his carrier at the time.  What a difference a year makes!  Diego passed up Santa's stature by a mile (and his hair filled in too, I wish he would share the hair)!  The second pic is blurry -- ever tried to take a picture of two writhing and wiggly kids? 

I wonder if Mateo will reach Santa's height this time next year.  It's a long way to go!

Only Santa knows - Shirley

Thankful: No- Really!

It's been a short two weeks since my father in-law came to visit, and now he is gone. During this time he was able to bond with Diego, visit with his 3 sons, and experience his first Thanksgiving in the U.S. He had heard about this American holiday, but never imagined he would ever actually participate in one.







While he was here, we also got some VERY good news which topped the things that I am thankful for this year (directly below Diego's birth of course!). The day before Thanksgiving, we were able to remove a loan contingency that we had on a house that we are trying to buy! This means the house is practically ours, and we should get our keys by December 10th! While I'm ecstatic about finally living on our own again, I am gearing up mentally for the long hard battle with boxes and packing tape. December 10th is not that far away from December 25th, and my husband and I have one goal, which is to have our new house decorated in time for Christmas, even if it means putting tinsel on cardboard boxes. It's been too many years since we've seen our Christmas decorations, and Diego deserves the BEST first Christmas ever!

The day after Thanksgiving, I was treated to a wonderful surprise: one which I have been taking FULL advantage of these past few days: independent bottle feeding! Diego sometimes always ends up in bed between my husband and I by 3 in the morning. Then, like a clock, he is awake by 6 am. Now that he's got the whole crawling thing down, he has taken to crawling over my head on the bed at 6 am and making his way to the nightstand beside me where a bottle of water or two is always ready, just waiting for its formula (I am lazy and cold to get out of bed).


He grabbed his bottle and proceeded to place the nipple in his mouth and drink from the bottle as if he's always held his own bottle! He's no genius just yet, because it only works if he's laying down. If he's sitting up, he doesn't understand that he has to lift the bottle to get the liquid to come out, so he yells in frustration until I lay him down. Nonetheless, I am taking FULL advantage of this new milestone at 10-months!

This is just another thing to be thankful for! And trust me, my arms and hands are THANKFUL!