Months 8 and 9!!!

Today is Isabel's 9 month birthday!!! She has been out in the world for as long as she was in my tummy! It is so hard to believe that a year and a half ago we found out that our world was going to forever change. I look back on pictures of us before Isabel was born, and can hardly even remember what it was like to not have my wiggly, busy, happy little baby in my life. I also can't believe that it has been well over a year since I had a full night's sleep!

Here is what Isabel has been up to for the last two months

8 months:

-Can get into the crawling position

-Has two more top teeth for a total of 6 teefers!

-Has a US passport

-Traveled to Mexico

-Can pull herself up from sitting to standing when you hold her hands

9 months:

-Can go from back to tummy, to crawling position, to sitting up

-Can walk while someone holds onto her hands

-Waves her hand when she hears the song "Los Pajaritos"

-Scrunches up her face & huffs/puffs when you ask her "donde esta la viejita?"

-Pulls herself to standing in her crib-Does a funny scooting-crawl

-Isn't sleeping through the night!!!

-Still isn't interested in solid food very much

-Had juice from a sippy cup.

These photo shoots are getting harder and harder! All I want is for her to sit still next to the bunny so we can see a size comparison! But no! She has to eat the bunny, play with mom's phone, take off her diaper, nibble on her diaper and get flustered at all the commands mommy keeps throwing at her!

Exploring our Roots in Mexico

This November Isabel and I were blessed with the opportunity to travel to Mexico with my mom to visit familia. My Great grandma (Isabel's great-great grandma) turned 100! It was beyond priceless to see my Abuelita Santos with her great-great granddaughter. I know my mom felt such pride in introducing her granddaughter to her own grandmother! The trip was bitter sweet, as the absence of my Abuelito was greatly missed.

Isabel went right to Tia Raquel and Tio Juan who had just been up in July to visit for Auntie Nanna's wedding. We spent the firest few days of our trip with them in Guadalajara as they live two blocks away from Abuelita Santos.

Four generations of las Mujeres Perez!

Tia Carmen is on the far left, and Tia Flor on the far right. They are relatives that live in Southern California and were visiting for Abuelita Santos' birthday.

The elderly lady in the middle is a niece of my Abuelita Santos. We caught them just as they were getting ready to leave. The taxi driver was nice enough to take a quick picture!

Tia Raquel, me, Isabel, Abuelita Sanots, my mom, Tio Margarito and Tio Julian.

Mi Abuelita Santos was so overjoyed to meet Isabel. She wanted to hold her right away and comented on how "gordita" she was! But that it was a good thing!

Isabel was mesmerized by all the pajaritos! Laster in the week she would learn a song about Los Pajaritos and begin doing the hand motions!

In this picture from left to right are: Tia Teresa's husband, Tio Margarito, Tio Julian, Tia Raquel, three ladies I don't know, Ofelia (a friend of Tia Raquel, a guy I don't know and Tio Juan.

These are all the surviving children of my Abualita. My mom is standing in place of my Abuelito who would have been so proud of his mom reaching the wise age of cien anos.

After the special Mas, we went to a place just down the road to celebrate! There was amazing food, cake and traditional live music.

This is Isabel's Tio Sergio. He just loved her!

We spent the rest of the week in El Valle de Guadalupe with my Tio Antonio and Tia Vitorina. Tio Antonio was one of my Abuelito's best friends and he is the brother of my Abuelita Isabel.

We went to the ranch at La Llave to feed the cattle one evening. It was a beautiful evening and the calves were running around, the dogs chasing them and everyone got their dinner!

This house belonged to my Abuelito Juan and Abuelita Santos. My mom remembers running off to la casa de sus Abuelos, when she was little.

It is such a beautiful place that has begun to deteriorate. I would love to see it restored some day so that we could stay there.

This church is the center of this extremely small community. This is where my mom would go to Mas as a small child, and where my Abuelito went to school through the third grade.

This beautiful church is the hub of El Valle de Guadalupe.

Isabel kickin' back in the town square.

Visiting Tio Memo and his family! We loved the cute little kid furniture!

Saying adios to Abuelita Santos! We hope to see her again in the next few years!

I'm so glad that Isabel got to go and meet the people that are the backbone of our family. They are treasures that live such simple lives yet are rich in faith and family. Even though Isabel wont remember this trip, she will forever have these photos that document her being the 5th living generation. I hope that when she looks at these photos as she gets older, she realizes that in her these family members live on, and through her the love and traditions of this family will forever be preserved.

The trip was bittersweet, as we got to see many relatives that we hadn't seen in years, but at the same time sorly missed my Abuelito who should have been right by our side the entire trip.

Mad Baby

Isabel is the funniest little mad baby. I'm not sure exactly what she was all mad about yesterday... probably the fact that her mom and dad kept laughing at her.

Nursing Mishaps

Recently Isabel tried to nurse from daddy. I couldn't stop laughing, but dad was pretty freaked out. Also, our two-year old friend Taylor has taken to trying to nurse her doll, and repeatedly says "boobies?!" whenever I nurse Isabel. Pretty funny ;-)

Laughter

Here are some videos of Isabel laughing. They are in order from oldest to newest, so you can really see how her laugh has changed!

Today's Mommy Thought

"Go on loving what is good, simple and ordinary." - Rainer Maria Rilke

That was my mommy saying for the day from the little flip book that Sally gave me. It really rang true today when Isabel discovered that she can splash in the bathtub. I was so excited that she was doing yet another new thing! Yet at the same time people without kids would find it so odd that my heart would swell with pride at the most simple, ordinary thing of splashing water. I love how being a mommy totally changes your perspective on life. A new little sound, the way a toy is thrown, a strange little facial expression... the good, simple and ordinary things are what give life flavor. Having a child makes you slow down and appreciate the littler nuances of a tiny person starting from scratch and learning everything there is to learn about this big amazing world that we live in.

"Its the simple things that make life sweet. They're worth their weight in gold. They can't be bought at any price and neither are they sold" - unknown

6 and 7 months old!

I missed updating for Isabel's 6th month, so I have two months of catching up! Here are the big milestones for the past two months.

6 Months
*Eaten solid food, and promptly spit it back out
*Rolled over from back to front
*Sitting up without any help
*Has two bottom teeth
*Got her first shot (DTaP) and did awesome!
*Weighed 17lbs 10oz at her 6 month checkup!

7 Months
*Consistently leans and reaches for the person she wants
*Scoots around in the sitting position (quite mysteriously)
*Has two big top teeth
*Rolled over repeatedly from back to front, and front to back
*Recognizes "patty cake"
*Can scoot around in the walker
*Does a "huffing & puffing" thing when she is mad (or just to be silly sometimes)
*She is becoming more and more independent and just wants to play and not cuddle with mom anymore!

Here are the pictures from our 7 month photo shoot. This was the hardest one yet! It is almost impossible to get her to sit still! She is a little girl on the move!