11 months!

My baby's almost one year old!

Lilia is getting so big. Sometimes I'll be holding her in my lap and just be amazed at how long and big she has gotten. This month she has gotten one new tooth coming in on the top. I thought the other bottom tooth would pop through, but it's still a no show. She doesn't seem to be showing any signs of teething as far as fussiness goes so I'm really thankful for that. She's been standing for 10 seconds at a time lately with no hands, but no walking yet (really grateful for that too!). She claps her hands all the time now. I love those chubby little hands! Lately to get my attention she will look at me and start laughing. She knows I'm a sucker for those laughs so I immediately look up from whatever I'm doing and start playing with her. She is also sleeping through the night at least for the past 5 nights. It's a step, but I'm not counting on this becoming a pattern quite yet.

Right now Lilia's got a really bad cold which she decided to share with me. We've both missed daycare/work to be home and take care of each other. She had a really high fever of 104.2 on Saturday so we took her to the emergency room, but she just had a really bad cold. The doctor who attended us was the doctor that brought Lilia over to Quique right after she was born.

I'm trying to plan her birthday party. It won't be too big, but it would be nice to have a few friends over to eat cake. December 6, 7, and 8 are holidays in Spain so it will be nice to have all those days off to celebrate with Lilia. We'll have to plan something special like a trip to the mountains to see her first snow or at least a trip to the park.

School is going well for me. I enjoy a lot of my classes and the days always seem to fly by. I just wish I didn't have so many levels of classes (15 different levels). I feel like I could do a better job if I just focused on three grade levels so I could follow exactly what they were doing in class and not have to refresh myself on what they're learning for the one or two classes I teach every week. One thing I really enjoy is that during any holiday (Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, etc.) I get to do lots of fun activities with my kids to teach about those holidays, especially the ones they are not familiar with). For Halloween, I did lots of different crafts with my younger kids like make a mask and make hand ghosts (trace your hand and then put it upside down. it looks like a ghost!). I also did Halloween Bingo with the 3rd through 6th graders and a lesson on the lyrics of Thriller with my high school kids. That week was a lot of fun and in just a few weeks I get to do it all over again with Thanksgiving! It really puts me in the holiday mood!

Below are some videos. The first is of Lilia and her friend Sergio at the park. She really wanted that ball! The second is of me trying to get Lilia to clap and then wave byebye. The third is me teaching a Zumba class! I did this about a month ago. The guy to my left is the instructor and the people are British travel agents. They were in Madrid for a conference and Zumba was on the agenda for their break time. I think I did a decent job considering it was only the second time I had done that song (I learned it two days before I had to teach it).

And of course some 11 month old photo outtakes:

8,9, and 10 months!

So I finally have the last months photos updated! Yeay!

Lilia has grown so much over the past few months it is incredible. Although she´s gotten huge it´s really her personality that´s blossomed. She´s learned so many new things. Now when we say, "Where´s the light!" She points up and when we say ¨Bye bye!" she waves her hand and sometimes both. She has also learned to dance! The other day Sue decided to play the piano with Lilia on her lap and Lilia started swaying back and forth.

The week after we got back to Madrid Lilia started daycare. She loves it! She´s always excited when she gets dropped off and according to the caretakers she´s very social with the other kids. She apparently likes to steal toys from the other kids (okay so she interacts with the other kids, sometimes in a positive way other times not...). Her caretaker, Maria, told us that one time Lilia kept trying to steal a toy from another baby so they gave the other baby a new toy and let Lilia keep the one she wanted. She then dropped the toy and went right after the new toy that the other baby had! We´ll probably start some lessons in sharing soon...

Physically Lilia has developed so much as well. I´m not sure how much she weighed at the 10 month appointment so I´ll have to look at the paper later where it says it. She now sits up easily, has been crawling for months, pulls up to standing, cruises a little, can now stand up and sit down with no hands as long as there is something in front of her that she´s able to grab onto if she needs it. She hates her playpen and prefers to always be crawling all over the floor. I call her my "free-range chicken" because she hates to be penned up in her playpen and is always crawling all over the apartment. She´s also eating finger food whenever we make it for her. She´s had chopped up carrots and peas and some cheerios when she was in the U.S. I´ve never seen Cheerios in Spain. She finally has a tooth! Right after she turned ten months that first little tooth appeared. She was a little bit grumpy before it came through, but not too bad. Enrique calls her "ratoncita" or "little mouse" because of that one teeny tooth.

We´re feeding her about four times a day: breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner. She normally goes to bed around nine. I can never say how often she wakes up during the night because it´s always changing. Normally it´s once a night, last night it was 5 times. Yes, 5 times...and I worked this morning too. Oh the exhaustion. She has a cold from daycare, which I´m pretty sure she´ll have until she leaves daycare, and because she can´t breathe she´s constantly waking herself up in the middle of the night. It´s no fun.

Okay so here are a lot of videos and pictures for you to enjoy. The first video, is of Lilia swaying back and forth to the piano. Her first "dance moves". I guess she does take after me! The second is of her completely passing out in her playpen (you have to turn your head left). The third is pointing to the light. The fourth is of me attempting to get her to eat peaches. As you can tell, she´s not a fan. The fifth and final one is her playing with her toy. I added lots of videos since I haven't done it for months!

Back to the Grind

Quique, Lilia, and I arrived back to Spain on September 26th and we haven´t stopped since!

I inaugurated my first week back to Madrid by becoming a working mom. Man this stuff is hard! I work in a Catholic school in the south of Madrid. I work almost full time and I teach students from 3 years old to high school. I really like this new school, but I feel stretched thin between all of my classes. I´m constantly changing hats from singing the "Hello Song" to my three year olds to teaching advanced grammar to my high school students. Of the three schools I have worked at this one is the one where I have to plan the most. In the other schools I would ¨help¨the teacher where as in this school I often teach just like the teacher or I will take half the class.

When I get home from school I pick up Lilia from daycare and start my second job as a mom. Quique works nights normally so we have alternating schedules. It gives Lilia more time with us than with daycare, but it´s tough when you come home and you´re the sole caretaker in the house. How do single moms do it?

Lilia LOVES daycare. Whenever I pick her up she gets so hyper and excited. I think she has a blast being able to crawl everywhere and play with toys and her friends. She is in a class with about 6 other children. They sing songs and do crafts in the mornings, but I have no idea what crafts she´s doing since 10 month olds aren´t too coordinated. We´re supposed to bring leaves in next week for them to do a craft. I´m just worried she´s going to try and eat them. Picking her up from daycare is my favorite part of the day.

On the side I´ve been practicing for a small Zumba job. So far I don´t have anything permanent, but I´ve got a little "gig" on Saturday. A Zumba instructor here in Madrid was asked to teach a Zumba class as a fun activity for British travel agents during a conference in Madrid. Since his English is not very good he asked me if I could do the songs with him and translate everything and do a welcome speech. The money is good and I get to do Zumba so I´m happy! Last night I went to his class and taught a song of my own. I was so proud! I never thought two years ago that I would be a certified Zumba instructor teaching in a gym to Spanish people in Spanish. At the end of the day I was exhausted though! I worked 9-5 then went home, to turn around 15 minutes later and head to the class. I didn´t get home until 8:30 that night where I immediately gave Lilia her bath...where she pooped. The day was exhausting but rewarding.

Well Lilia is waking up from her nap and I´ve got to walk back to the daycare place to pick up the diaper bag that I forgot! The work of a mom is never done!

More updates about Lilia soon!

Communicating in her own way

Thought you guys would enjoy a video of Lilia "talking" to Grandpa. I think James taught her this. Otherwise I have no idea why my child talks like a duck.

8 months!

More updates to come soon! This video is of Lilia waking up from a super long (3 hours!) nap. She was so happy and rested!

7 months

I've been telling myself for the past MONTH that I need to update my blog and I am finally making myself do it today! Lilia and I arrived to the U.S. on June 30th where my dad and siblings met Lilia for the first time. At first Lilia just stared at everyone trying to take in all the new faces. Since then she has gotten comfortable with everybody and is having a great time!

She was great on the flight over here! We first took a 2 1/2 hour flight from Madrid to London where she sat on my lap. The 15 year old girl next to us on the flight was nice at first while Lilia tried to grab her purse/leg/hair. After awhile Lilia started staring at the girl (her favorite thing to do with strangers) until the girl felt so uncomfortable that she turned her back to us. Gotta work on those social skills. She slept most of the time during our layover in London. The flight from London to Atlanta was 9 1/2 hours!! We sat next to the bathroom so she enjoyed staring and playing with all the people waiting in line. Even though she did great I was glad when we finally landed in Atlanta and my dad picked us up.

As you can see from the video she is now crawling! She started out by scooting, then getting on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth, and finally picking up those hands and feet and getting them coordinated to crawl. She gets faster and faster every day and I go crazier and crazier trying to run after her. I really need a play pen! I think I'm going to lose the last few pounds of pregnancy weight from chasing after her all the time.

Because it took me forever to write this since her 7th month I can't remember all the little milestones except that she weighed 16.5 pounds and was 26 inches and of course that she flew for the first time. She also learned how to sit up all on her own for long periods of time!

My parents love having her here and I love having so many babysitters around me between my sister, mom, and my cousins. Robbie tries to act like he's too macho for babies and the next minute I turn around and he's baby talking to her. James loves to play with her too and always makes a point to spend some time with her when he gets home from work. Helena, Nicole, and Mary Kay (cousins) are always asking when Lilia is coming to visit even if she's just left their house. It's great being surrounded by family and friends!

This past Wednesday Lilia and I went to a Mommy Group with some old high school friends. We had an excellent time eating fondue (me, not Lilia!) and playing with other babies (a first for Lilia). I think she was more interested in playing with the toys than with the other babies. Again, we'll have to work on those social skills!

Alright so I think I owe you some videos and pictures! Here's a video of my dad with Lilia. Not sure who's having more fun!

6 months!

On June 5th Lilia turned 6 months old! My baby is half a year old! Time really does fly. Here are some highlights and milestones for this month:

• Lilia is rolling from tummy to back and back to tummy
• She sits up well if someone is supporting her, but can't do it on her own yet
• She weighs 7 kilos or 15lbs 6oz (25th percentile) and is 65 cm or 25.5 in. long (50th percentile)
• She no longer does her high pitched dog screech. It's now a full out tarzan wail. Every time she wakes up in the morning or from a nap she does the tarzan. Maybe she's just talking to the ceiling.
• She has been eating solids for a month and a half now. She has eaten apples, pears, bananas, nectarines, watermelon, peas, and carrots. She has a weird reaction to apples and nectarines (welts and spots under her left eye). She loves bananas. She doesn't like any food when she first tries it, but after awhile when she's gotten used to the taste and texture she'll eat a little bit.


• After a month of feeding her in her swing we now have a high chair...and she does not like it. I think all the straps plus the tray make her feel cramped. She now never wants to eat what I give her in the chair. At least from this picture you can't tell she doesn't like it!
  


• Lilia loves her spoon. She loves it so much in fact that when I try to put food in her mouth she grabs it from me and continues to chew on it. It's her favorite teething toy.
• She loves to blow with her lips now. She learned this is a great technique for spitting all the food back out that I put in her mouth.
• She can hold something in one hand and switch it to the other.
• She cannot get on a schedule at night! Some nights she'll sleep 13 hours straight (oh glorious, glorious sleep). Other nights she'll wake up 1,2, or even 3 times a night. Imagine the tarzan wail at 3 a.m...
• Her eating schedule is: breakfast: breastfeed and cereal, lunch: vegetable (and now we can start mixing with chicken) and breastfeed, snack: fruit and breastfeed, dinner: breastfeed and cereal.
• She loves strangers. Seeing new faces really entertains and distracts her. I love this because I know when we go back to the U.S. in two weeks she won't be dealing with any stranger anxiety from all the new faces!
• She has learned to put her foot in her mouth and then suck on her toes. It's so weird and entertaining at the same time.
• She LOVES attention.
• This month we've been to the mountains and the park with friends and to the beach to visit family. She is an excellent traveler because the car puts her right to sleep.



• She likes to say dadadada and yayaya
• She has HUGE, ABSOLUTELY HUGE thighs. She has earned the nickname "jamones" (hams) because her legs look like the ham legs here in Spain: http://delariberanavarra.com/images/jreserva.jpg She has also been called "pepona" after a chubby doll that was very popular in Spain awhile ago: http://s3.postimage.org/Pq4h7oJ.jpg
• Finally, she has learned to belly laugh and I love it. Is there anything cuter than a baby laughing?

Here's a video of her with just a diaper. You can see those legs and the foot in mouth I was talking about earlier. This was the day we left for the beach about two weeks ago: