come come come... and he ate it all

Here's dinner at home. That particular night we had beans with zuccini... yum! Look at the process of food disapearing from Kino's plate... he ate it all!

Divinamente terco

Cuando algo se te mete en la cabeza, no hay manera de que cambies de idea. A últimas fechas juegas con las tapitas de los frascos que hay en casa. Ya las tiras, ya las muerdes, ya las aplaudes, ya las avientas, ya las haces girar... Pero lo mejor de todo es cuando te las metes en la boca y no las quieres soltar... Aquí la evidencia...

This is a weird combination of cute and stubborn... What's with not letting go off the cap? I just love it.

Gracias! Thank you!

A veces, cuando hay mucho qué agradecer, uno no sabe ni por dónde empezar.

Gracias Dios por tenernos donde nos tienes, por dejarnos ser lo que somos, por levantarnos a diario para poder amar y gozar cada instante. Gracias familia por ser parte de nosotros, por hacernos fuertes. Gracias amigos por estar siempre ahí, por la sonrisa constante. Gracias, gracias por un año lleno de enseñanzas y cosas buenas. Gracias por la esperanza, por los bueno consejos y los buenos golpes. Gracias Olaf porque te tengo. GRACIAS.

May this be an humble thank you note for all of those who have been around in this year. Thank you for your smiles and your constant presence. Thanks everyone for all that you have given us, thanks for being around. THANK YOU.

Meeting Kelan!

For the last 19-20 months I have been a regular visitor of a website called BabyFit, a pregnancy-related site with lots of information and meesage boards. So ever since I found I was pregnant I have made my almost-daily routine of visiting the Feb 08 board to encounter the other Mommies there and share our experiences on motherhood and so many other topics... The neat part is that out of all of the Mommies there at our board, I got to meet with one of them, one that has a beautiful baby boy named Kelan with whom Joaquín shares a birthday...

February 2008 Mommies: Tara and Ale

Tara and her family had a vacation here in Cabo last week, and we were so lucky to get to meet them. We had the opportunity to go out for a drink and share a sunny pool day with the boys. Tara is so pretty and has se most amazing, welcoming smile.

Tara, Kelan, Lalo and Kino, after a long day by the pool side. Tara's smile is the warmest ever, such a beatuful Momma.

Kelan is just so cute and such a beautiful baby. All blond, deep blue eyes, a chubby tummy... so, so cute! His Daddy, Nick, was so much fun to be around, his Aunt Gina and his Grandparents... they were all so nice to us! After the pool Joaquín and Kelan sat down to share some cheerios, it was so cute!

Nick, Kelan, Kino and Lalo, our boys.

Smile! Tara, Kelan, Kino and Ale, all getting ready for a splash!

The ate together and Kelan looooooved them, and wanted to eat them all, and at the same time! Of course after the pool, Joaquín's hair was a lost fight, so cute!

Kino and Kelan sharing the cheerios! Gotta love the hair do!

We had a great visit with them and we were so fortunate to be able to meet them! Hopefully next time we can meet again with the boys to share another fun time. Thank you guys for sharing your vacation time with us, we truly hope we see you back soon, may this be the start of a long-lasting friendship.

Hazel, please chew! Get well baby!

UPDATE Dec 4: Dear little Hazel had successfully removed her ventilation tube yesterday night. Her doctors are slowly reducing her sedatives and Mama got to cuddle with her and hold her for the first time in a week. We are so happy to hear about her progress! Both Jamie and Amanda have continuosly thanked everyone out there praying for her little girl, and I too thank you my friends for your interest, thoughts and prayers. So Hazel has take a big step ahead but is not out of the woods yet, long road ahead still, so please keep her and her family in your prayers!

Our dear baby friend Hazel, and her Mama Amanda and her Papa Jamie are tonite in the hospital up in Boston going thru surgery to remove a "foreign object" from her throat that is making her sick.

I just want to ask you all to think of them and wish them well. They make such a great team, such a beautiful and strong family! Please please send all your well-being thoughts out to them for a successful and safe proceedure and a quick recovery. Hazel: get well baby, get well soon. We are so thinking of you!! Our love and thoughts out to you.

UPDATE Nov 28: the "foreign object" was in fact a battery from a remote control. She must've swallowed it and it got stuck in her esophagus for 6 days, causing extended damage to the area. She's been induced into a medical coma with some drugs to allow a better healing and they will try and get her off the ventilator on Monday, she is expected to remain in the PICU for the weekend, and in the hospital for a few days afterwards. Doctors mention this is a very common accident, and that those batteries on musical greeting cards are to be kept away from all babies. Please do not send any to anyone with a baby at home. Dear Hazel, please get better, we are praying and thinking of you!! Mama, stay strong!!

UPDATE Dec 1: We are all hoping that dear Hazel will be succesfully taken off meds today to try and get her off the vent. She is still in the pediatric IC unit and expected to be there for a few more days. She's been stable and it all looks as "good" as it can. Mama Amanda and Papa Jamie are having a rough time watching their little sweet porkpie sleeping there, but we are so hopefull they're headed into recovery road. Thanks everyone for asking about them, and please please, beware of those tiny button-batteries! Keep them away from your kids. Keep those prayers up, Hazel and her family need us.

UPDATE Dec 2: It seems like our little fighter Hazel is making some slow but steady progress. We are all hoping that tomorrow is the day when doctors can successfully extubate her from her mechanical vent, put a feeding tube and assess her damaged tissue. She is scheduled for all these proceedures at 2:45pm tomorrow, so please keep her in your thoughts, she needs our strenght and our courage.

Peek-a-boo by the poolside!

So we just had a great long weekend! We went to La Paz and spent two days by the poolside, watching the sun rise and set. It was gorgeous. And so is Joaquín. He is so big and so cute, he makes all these silly faces i cannot resist. He giggles and shouts pa-pa to his Dad and stares at you in the most melting way. We had a long peek-a-boo session by the poolside, check out the pictures!

Las etiquetas - The tags

En estos días Joaquín ha desarrollado una fascinación desmedida por las ETIQUETAS. Sí, etiquetas, simple y sencillamente e-t-i-q-u-e-t-a-s. Las que lastiman el cuello, las que dan comezón, las que cortamos sin piedad porque se empeñan en salirse la ropa, las que no ocultan nuestra verdadera talla, las que se decoloran dejando en incógnita las instrucciones de lavado. Viles y comunes etiquetas.















¿Cómo nació este gusto? No lo sé, creo que con una dado de tela (regalo de Elo y Sofi) que tiene una larga (y deliciosa, según mi hijo) etiqueta que sobresale de uno de los bordes y que fué descubierta casualmente en el juego...














¿Cuándo comenzó la obsesión? No lo sé, creo que justo en el momento en que mamá, sin querer y en voz alta, repitió la norma número catorce (¿o trece?) acerca de la seguridad de los bebés: "antes de ofrecer un objeto al niño, retire cuidadosamente toooooodas las etiquetas..." seguro que justo ahí fué cuando Joaquín decidió que las etiquetas serían su nuevo entretenimiento.

ENGLISH:

So, lately Joaquín has this obsession with tags. Yes, tags. Plain old tags, the ones you itch, the ones you wanna rip off, the ones that fade off the laundry instructions. Whenever he sees one, he grabs it, squizzes it, tastes it and talks to it, it is so cute!

Sometimes...

...i wish someone told me I'm doing it right
...i don't wanna go to work just to stay and hang out with my boy
...i want to freeze out the moment
...i want to share my boy away
...i dont
...i hope for a milestone
...i just smile
...i just drop a tear
...i feel like i met my boy in some other life
...i feel desperate to explain that I'm sorry, that I'm a first-time mom
But all the time I am just plain happy that Joaquín is here with me.
I love him to death, and sometimes I wish he new.

First attempt / Primer intento

Ok, so a few days ago, our blog-friend from Perú, Lu, was wondering if Joaquín is already holding his own bottle... well... that made ME wonder. So i decided to check it out.

Today, being a nice, quiet Saturday, we are just hanging here, Dad practicing on his electric guitar lessons (sight!) and us, laying in bed playing. So juice time it was. I put the blue bottle handles (that actually feel like some sort of flying device) and offered it to Joaquín. He examines the thing and goes for his first attempt! I would say (note: I'm his proud Momma!) that he did pretty well, no professional display yet, but we'll get there, as this made me take a mental note on having to start putting effort on this particular baby-holds-his-own-bottle trainning.

Check it out!!

Hace un par de días, nuestra amiga bloggera del Perú, Lu, nos preguntaba si Joaquín ya detiene su propia mamila... lo cual me puso a pensar... y decidí verficar el hecho.

Hoy, siendo un buen y tranquilo sábado, estamos aquí en casita literalmente echándola (jijijiji), papá frente a nosotros practicando sus recientes lecciones de guitarra eléctrica (imaginen...!) y nosotros jugando en la cama. Así que se llegó el momento del jugo. Coloqué las agarraderas azules (que más bien parecen algún pedazo de máquina voladora) y se la ofrezco a Joaquín. Él examina el aparatejo y decide iniciar el primer intento! Yo diría (noten: soy la mamá orgullosa) que lo hizo bastante bien, nada de profesionalismo aún, pero seguramente pronto lo hará, lo cual me hace tomar una anotación mental de que debo ya iniciar a poner esfuerzo en este entrenamiento de el-bebé-agarra-su-propia-mamila.

Agrego otras cuantas fotitos de estos días. Un abrazo, y gracias a todos por leernos.

Joaquín es fan de Pavarotti

* Creemos que esta es la demostración de todas las leyes genéticas.

Extrañar y estornudar / To miss and sneeze

Hoy hablaré brevemente de 2 acontecimientos importantes y muy cotidianos:

1. Extrañar: la semana pasada tuvimos a bien visitar los yunaited estéits con motivo de la boda del querido Tío Rivex. Estuvimos fuera exactamente 4 días. Joaquín se quedó de refugiado en casa de los Quintero. Sobra decir que la Tía Tita fungió como madre sustituta sin pensarlo y nos mandó al viaje SIN pesares ni angustias. El primo Emilio (de 2 años y medio) al parecer convivió feliz con el intruso y en general pareciera que Joaquín no extrañó mucho que digamos... ¿Que si nosotros lo extrañamos? Me faltarían palabras para poder explicar cómo se extraña a un hijo la primera vez que se le deja por más de 24 horas. No fue angustia, ni miedo, ni pendiente. Fue simplemente extrañamiento puro. Lo extrañamos. Te extrañamos Joaquín. Fué maravilloso darnos cuenta de lo indispensable que se vuelven los chamacos en nuestro diario andar, de pronto son un eje maravilloso que nos mantiene en órbita. Cuando lo ví al regresar, supe que no cambiaría por nada del mundo el tenerlo conmigo, ser su mamá y tener la familia que tengo.

2. Estornudar: ¡No hay nada en el mundo que iguale la inminente manchada masiva cuando un bebé de cinco meses y medio decide estornudar cuando está comiendo papilla! El proceso es: llena uno la cucharita de mango (o en el peor de los casos de ciruela pasa), la deposita en la boquita del bebé. El bebé comienza a hacer caritas, encoge la nariz, echa la cabeza un poquito pa atrás y TRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAZ!!! Escoge por donde comenzar a limpiar.

~~~~~~~~~ Spanglish ~~~~~~~~~~~

1. To miss: last week we had de pleasure of traveling to LA to attend the wedding of a very dear friend. We were gone for exactly 4 days. Joaquín stayed as a refugee at the Quintero's (my sister's). Needless to say, Aunt Tita was the best substitute mother ever, she sent us off to our trip without worries or concerns. Cousin Emilio (2 yrs and a half) seemed happy sharing space and family with our little alien, and in general it seems like Joaquín didn't really mind us taking off without him... ¿Did we miss him? I lack works to explain how much one misses a kid when you leave him for over 24 hrs for the first time. It wasn't fear nor anxiety. It was just missing him. Just like that, we missed him. We missed you Joaquín. It was amazing to realize how important your kids become on our daily routines and life, they become this wonderful axis that keeps us moving in our orbit. When we came back and I saw him, I knew I wouldn't trade for the world having him with me, being his mom and having the family that I have.

2. To sneeze: ¡There's nothing you can compare to a 5 month old baby sneezing while he eats! The process goes like this: you fill out the baby-spoon with mango (or even worse, with prune) and empty it into baby's tiny mouth. Then he starts making funny faces, pulls his little nose up, pushes his head a little backwards and BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!!! You can choose where to start cleaning.

Remojando el cuero...

Aquí las imágenes de un rico dominguito remojando el pellejo. La temperatura cada vez más arriba, el agüita que se antoja siempre. A Joaquín parece encantarle esto de la nadada, así que aprovechamos la invitación a casa de los abuelos para echarnos una refrescadita.

So here are the images of a very nice Sunday spent in the water. Temps rise every day, and diving in seems just right. Joaquín seems to enjoy this swimming thing very much, so we accept the invitation from Granpa & Granma to refreshhhh...

80 aniversario... ver para creer!

El primer viaje en avión... Joaquín se portó muy bien tanto de ida como de regreso. Ningún contratiempo y nunca (n-u-n-c-a) viajaremos sin canguro! This was our first plane trip... Joaquín was really good, slept most of both flights. No fussing or anything, and we will never (ever) travel without our BabyBjorn!

Joaquín fue el regalo sorpresa de la Bisabuela Carmelita, las generaciones se acomodan así:

4ta / 4th generación: Joaquín (nieto / grandkid)

3a / 3rd generación: Eduardo (papá / dad)

2a / 2nd generación: Marty (abuela / grandmom)

1a / 1st generación: Carmelita (bisabuela / great-grandmom)

El sábado desayuné mango y mi abuelo me empinó la mamila... On saturday i had mango for breakfast and Grandad gave me my bottle.

con sabor a CALABAZA!: la aventura de lo nuevo

Si cierro los ojos y trato de imaginar a qué sabe lo desconocido... no sé. Por más q lo intente, no puedo descifrar el sabor o la textura de lo nuevo. Claro que a los 4 meses de edad prácticamente todo es nuevo... Supongo q los bebés de alguna forma se "acostumbran" a vivir a la expectativa.

Ayer por primera vez Joaquín me acompañó al súper... no sé qué habrá sentido la caminar por pasillos repletos de colores q trataban de llamar su atención, qué habrá pensado de esa música que se escuchaba al fondo, del brillo del piso recién pulido o del olor a cilantro y ajax combinado con comida para perro...

Este mes, y con intenciones meramente nutricias (anota Tía Jules: estamos en percentila 25 del peso para la talla!!), decidimos iniciar la dichosa ABLACTACIÓN, que no es otra cosa que la introducción de alimentos diferentes a la leche en la dieta de un bebe(botón).

El primer debate fue qué verdura elegir para que semejante (y memorable) suceso fuera todo un éxito... y decidimos que la CALABACITA era la mejor representante del mundo vegetal. Así que, estrenando los vasitos de licuadora de la Tía Gaby y haciendo honor a nuestras habilidades culinarias, cocimos la calabacita al vapor, la molimos hasta obtener una consistencia suavecita, y sin sal, sin condimento ni advertencia, fue a parar la verde mezcla en el paladar de Joaquín. He aquí la evidencia de lo sucedido.

IN ENGLISH: So we started solids!! That's the news this week. We decided to go with zuccini, and Joaquín seems to be liking it a lot. It won't be until next Saturday that we start a different veggie, so for now, he will have to enjoy what he gets!!!! Oh!! and he LOVES apple juice (diluted 50% water)...

Update for those far away!

Well, Joaquin is growing big... no kidding!! He's outgrown most of his NB clothes and is now well into using 3-6mo size. He looks adoooorable on his summer shorts and onesies... (gotta love vista ballena's uniform!)

I can (proudly) say that he now sleeps through the night (yeaaahhh!!), from 9pm till 6am. He's started cereal in addition to milk, holds his head up straight, loves bathtime, and coos like his talking big business, he's sooo cute!!

He smiles and laughs (watch youtube video below) and wakes up with the biggest smile in his face. We have been cloth diapering (www.bumgenius.com) and loving it, we are also plannig to start solids next month, so we'll se how that goes.

As you can see in the posted picture, he now loves (LOVES) sucking his hands, so, he's either cooing or sucking a hand, which come with a lot of drooling too...

We are also following a strict vaccine schedule, and that's seems to be going well too. His ped says he looks great, right size and weight, 100% healthy. His family doctor (Dad) says he's never seen a more perfect patient and his nutritionist (Mom) says she's never seen a cutest baby before... LOL!

We could say that we now have a very well stablished routine. Mom & Dad are working full time, Nanny Luisa looks after him while we are out. We have been going out for (serious) walks for a month now (which makes Momma very happy and fit!), so it all feels right.

I'd say we have a HAPPY & HEALTHY BABY in the house, which makes us proud and happy aswell!

Big hugs to everyone far away, we miss u all!!!! And tnx 4 reading us!!

Joaquín a Punta Colorada!

Por fin, después de 10 semanas, se le hizo a Joaquín ir a Punta Colorada. Tomamos fin de semana largo y nos asoleamos el ombligo como dictan las reglas. Comimos, descansamos y olimos el mar.

No hay mejor lugar que Punta.

Ojalá Joaquín pronto le agarre el gusto y nos pida regresar.

~ EN SPANGLISH! ~ So we spent a long weekend at Punta Colorada, the place where we got married three years ago. It was Joaquín's first trip to this wonderful place, and we did nothing but enjoy the beach, the sun, the food and the endless siesta hours! Family came along aswell as some friends, and we really had a great time. Feel free to check our pictures (link below) and envy us!

Si quieres ver todas las fotos del viaje /To view all trip pictures: haz CLICK AQUÍ/HERE!!

thanks for visiting us!!

To our FANS in TEXAS, USA!!...

...and to Aunt Cuquita!!

We were so happy to learn that we have great fans in Texas!!

So, this is BebéBotón's blog where we post pretty much everything from his arrival to our family to his daily routines. He was born on Feb 11th, at 8:53 pm, very healthy and well-behaved, in Los Cabos, México.

Ever since we fount out a baby was coming to join us, we thought of sharing our journey with our family and friends, so that's why we started this blog. Before he was born, we didn't know the gender of the baby, so we ended up calling him/her just BebéBotón, now he has a "real" name: Joaquín.

So thanks for sharing this experience with us by following our stories through this blog, it makes us very happy to know that Joaquín can enter your houses and hopefully make you smile as he does around here. Please feel free to leave your comments or email us at bebeboton@hotmail.com we'll be very happy to hear from you all.