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Okay, so this is just ridiculous. I could have sworn my last post was at least some time this year, but nope. Looks like the last one was October 24, 2011. Really????!!!!!!!!

I guess I have to let by-gones be by-gones. Well, as you know by now, these two are the loves of my life. Alex is now nearly 4 1/2 years old and Daniela will be 2 years old in a few weeks. Unbelievable! I know it's a cliche, but time really does fly. This year has been a fantastic and blessed year. We were able to vacation in San Diego for a week courtesy of Keith's job; and I was able to spend 3 weeks in Argentina visiting family with Alex, Daniela and my mom.

Alex completed his first year of Preschool. It's amazing what they teach them. I could not get that kid to count to 10 before starting school and after one week in school, he was counting up to 20! Of course, he's learned a lot more than that throughout the year. What I most love and what his teachers most commented on were his passion and enthusiasm. Although he drives me up a wall at times, the flip side of that is his energy and excitement towards anything he does. His teachers also taught him to be a better team player and person. One note sent home said, "Alex was a gentle and patient friend today. He did a good job using his words." And another said, "Alex helped a frustrated friend put a puzzle together." Sniff, sniff. I am so proud of him. He has grown so much and I can't believe he'll be going into Kindergarten next year. I really cherish him.

Daniela has also grown so much, not just physically, but developmentally as well. I can now definitely say she is bilingual. Keith and I will sometimes speak in English, and she will join in the conversation in Spanish. Or I will speak to her in Spanish and she will respond in English. Their brains are truly amazing.

I absolutely love her personality too. She is so much more like Keith than Alex is. And I am proud to say that she LOVES music. She sings along with mami all the time. The first thing she says when we get into the car is "musica." She loves to dance and runs to join me on piano or guitar whenever I play too.

I know I always end with this, but I will never tire of saying how blessed I am to be their Mom.

Look who's talking too!

I am so far behind. I haven't blogged anything about this summer, Daniela's birthday, or our trip to Puerto Rico. But I wanted to at least get Daniela's words in writing before I forget. She is nearly 14 months old and is really talking! Here's a list of her words with her pronunciation.
1. Aach (ouch)
2. Awa (agua)
3. Mama, Dada, Baba, Titi
4. Aex (or something like that for Alex)
5. Papa (Tapa)
6. Sucio (just like that)
7. Gaco (Gato)
8. Ech (leche)
9. I la la (I love you)
10. Tiko, tiko (tickle, tickle)
And she absolutely LOVES music!!! Today, I was vocalizing in the car to a cd track that I have, and she joined right in. Anytime she hears a radio, she runs to it. She also has a little Elmo toy that sings the "Elmo song;" it goes "la, la, la, la," and so does she! I love it!
Both Daniela and Alex are such a blessing to me. I could not imagine life without them. No matter what problems I may be facing, they can bring a smile to my face any time. Thank you for that, Lord.

This is who I am

I love this picture!!! This picture is such a good representation of Daniela's personality. She really is the happiest baby ever. She never complains and hardly ever cries...even when she may be uncomfortable. I feel so blessed being her mommy and I love her so much!

Long time

Wow. It has been a while. I noticed how much more I blogged with Alex and felt bad for Daniela. But that's life with 2 kids now. I will try to be better now that I have a laptop. Daniela is now nearly 9 months old! It's incredible how quickly time passes with 2 kids! She's growing up so fast. She is now doing the army crawl and almost has the regular crawl down. She tries to pull herself up and is very active overall. She says "baba, mama, dada," all of which began at about 6 months. As I write, she is actually screaming for my attention, so gotta go for now. More soon with pictures to come.

Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was a blast! I think maybe I was becoming somewhat of a scrooge at Christmas time, but seeing it all through Alex's eyes this year changed my course. Even as a Christian, I can get so caught up in Chrismas shopping, parties, baking, yada yada...But my children made me stop and breathe; enjoy the present. When Alex and I put the tree up, he was awestruck by the lights and exclaimed "wow." It was nice to step back with him, as we hung the ornaments together, and just enjoy putting up the tree. We enjoyed it so much, I've promised to leave the tree up until the end of January without worrying about taking it down. :)

I wanted to ditch making gingerbread men this year, but my sister Liz convinced me to make them. It has kind of become a tradition. We made them together and Alex and his cousins, Mia and Zach decorated them. It was so nice to see them doing this together. It made all the work worthwhile.

As a family, we also went on a "Journey of Joy." Faith Church in Tinley puts on a reenactment of the different stages of Christmas. Hopefully, next year Alex will understand "suspension of disbelief" and not heckle the actors. :)

Our friend Doug organizes a caroling gig at Holland Home every year, and this was Alex and Daniela's first time coming along. Alex LOVES singing! It was so cute seeing him try to lip sync. My favorite though was how he worked the room. He went around shaking the residents' hands and saying "Merry Christmas." I wish I had that on tape. :)

Keith and I were both involved with the Christmas Eve service at church with him on bass and me in the choir. Alex and Daniela sat through most of the service with my family which was a feat in and of itself. Alex was so proud of his dad, and kept telling his neighbors in the congregation, "Keith's my dad."

We spent Christmas morning with my mom, Barb-Keith's mom, and my sister. We started the day by singing some Christmas carols with Keith on guitar and telling the Christmas story using our nativity set. Alex just couldn't wait for the baby Jesus to make its appearance.

Later, my dad, my brother Ezequiel and his wife Patty and kids joined us for Christmas lunch. It was the first time in over 15 years that we had all spent Christmas together with Dad. Enough said...

Thank You Jesus, for allowing me to step back and see Christmas through Alex's eyes. Thank You for all You have done for us. Thank You for family and for the gifts that You give worth more than any gift money could buy.

How much time do I have?

Daniela Sofia Cordero was born on August 28, 2010 weighing 9 lbs 3 oz, measuring 20.5 inches long. Yes, it has been 10 weeks and some days since her birth date, but it has taken this long for things to settle so I can write about it. And it's 12:21 a.m. She might wake up any minute to eat so I'll write as much as I can. Where to start? She is such a blessing from God! First of all, going from one kids to two has been quite a shocker. I guess shocker is not the right word. We knew it would be difficult, but wow. Thankfully, she was sent straight from heaven and is a little angel. Otherwise, I don't know how I'd cope. :) She is the most smiley baby I've ever seen. She also has this cute, little laugh. I just want to die every time she laughs or smiles! It's enough to brighten up the gloomiest of days. But she is already Daddy's little girl. Only Keith can get her to smile and laugh so readily. Today we went to the doctor and she is already weighing 15 lbs 10 oz! The doctor put her on a diet. j/k...but she did say I should try to stretch out the feedings. It's been nearly 4 hours since her last feeding so the doctor would be proud. She's been sleeping for over 3 hours too! She is the best! Alex has adjusted fairly well. I think he is jealous, but he's only taken it out on his parents and not on her. He is so sweet with her. He's always asking, "Can I hold him? Can I burp him?" We're trying to teach him to say "her." He gets it sometimes. He's so cute. We are so blessed to have 2 wonderful kids!

Letter to Daniela Sofia

Hello, Sweetie. I wanted to take a little bit of time, to tell you what's been going on this pregnancy and to share our anticipation with you. These past 8 months have been quite hectic. I have been taking care of your brother Alex, trying to be a good wife, working and going to school as well. Thank heavens, I am done with school for at least the next month and things have calmed down a bit. We are trying to get your room ready and doing everything else that comes with getting ready for a new addition to the family. A few highlights this pregnancy included the 20-week ultrasound, going to San Francisco with Lizi (your Auntie) and Alex, and watching Alex love on you. For the 20-week ultrasound, your Titi Jen, your cousin Sammy and Alex all came along. Even though most of the time in an ultrasound, you cannot tell an arm from another appendage, Titi Jen and I knew you were a girl RIGHT away. You gave us a clear butt shot that left little to the imagination. We looked at each other and said, "Is that a girl?" The technician confirmed our assumption. It was almost too good to be true. Your dad was so excited when I told him the news! In May of this year, Auntie Lizi and Alex came with us to San Francisco. I was there for work, but we decided to make it an extended trip. We got to see a lot of San Francisco. Our favorite though, was Monterey Bay and the Aquarium. Alex had a blast! See pictures for more. The other great thing this pregnancy has been watching your brother and how attached he is to you already. We always tell him he needs to share his toys with you; in fact, one time, he brought his book, lifted up my shirt to see the belly, and started reading to you. I think he is the one that talks directly to you the most. He already knows that any time he sees something pink, he says, "ese es para Daniela." He saw some shoes at Walmart the other day and again, proceeded to try and lift my shirt so he could show you the shoes. He said, "these are cute, Daniela." He is going to be a great big brother! We love you so much already, Daniela, and haven't even met you. We thank God for you and pray that you will be a healthy baby.

Excitedly waiting for you,
Mami

In Breckenridge

Keith and I had the opportunity to go to Denver, CO for my 30th birthday! It was wonderful! We stayed at Kate & Ryan's place (though Ryan was out of town) and that made it all the better. We were only there 3 days, but we got to go to Breckenridge, Colorado Springs and spend time in Denver too. Our favorite was Garden of the Gods with Chick-Fil-A coming in close second. :) It was nice to get away with just my hubby for a bit. Another cool thing; we got to see buffalo, sheep and elk just all on the side of the road. Since I am preggers, we didn't get to ski unfortunately, but we plan on coming back with Alex to do that some other time.

The Nazi Movie Pose

So Alex does this move anytime he is watching a movie and a part that he likes is coming up. It is so funny! He is so serious too. He will not move until he watches the part he likes. It can be 5 minutes before that part and he will hold this pose the entire time! It is so bizarre but so cute too.

Woh! It has been way too long. It seems like I only blog when I'm up at 1:30 in the morning unable to sleep (so that doesn't happen often). So, what's new you ask? Well, I'm only 20 weeks pregnant!!!!!
Tomorrow is the big day. Hopefully, Keith or Keithette Jr. will reveal his/her secret. This pregnancy has been miserable, so unlike the one with Alex. Another noteworthy item: I'm going back to school this summer. After writing a vision statement and meditating on it, I finally decided to take the plunge. I'll be taking gen eds this summer and starting my teacher's certification September 7th at Trinity Christian College, 2 weeks after my due date. I'm so excited though! For a long time I've thought, "I should have been a teacher." Of course, my first motive was just my passion for kids and learning, but the schedule will be great with little ones. As far as vacation plans, we've already spent a few days at our beloved Starved Rock. In a few weeks, for my b-day, Keith and I are heading to Denver to visit Kate and Ryan. And in May, I'll be going to San Fran for a work conference and hopefully spending a few days of fun afterwards as well. So it will be quite a packed first half year. And I wouldn't have it any other way. Alex is doing great! He turned two on February 9. We celebrated at Chuck E. Cheese, his favorite place on earth. He is the joy of my life. Surprisingly, he is quite excited about the new baby. You'd be amazed at how he already caresses the baby (i.e. my belly) and tells the baby he loves him. He is going to be an awesome big brother! I'm so excited for all God has done already and what he yet has in store for us. Hopefully, I'll write more often than every 6 months and keep you posted.

Vocab Part 2

More words and phrases Alex is saying:

Pooperman (Superman)
Atun (Ice cream)
I'm not boring
I'm the boss
BORING
Cucas (Lucas)
Doot (shoot---shhh...nobody taught him that)
Meme man (garbage man)
Basasa (Sabana---sheet in Spanish)
Afora (afuera---outside in Spanish)
dada cheese's (Chuck E. Cheese's)
Go Bears
Go Illini
Touchdown

He says tons of other things, but these are some of the cutest that stand out.

simple joys

1. A warm, fall day.
2. A vacation day.
3. Leisurely time spent with God.
4. Going up and down the escalator with Alex because he thinks it's funny.
5. Running a little longer because I can.
6. Blogging.
7. Catching up with old friends.
8. Singing in the car.
9. A long car ride with Keith.

Don't hate me because I got to meet Lafayette!

Wow! Last night was a blast! We left Alex with Lizi and had an evening all to ourselves. Even though I grew up in the city, I've never been much into the city and nightlife scene...BUT last night that all changed. After becoming a mom, there is nothing like a nice (non-family friendly) restaurant to make you feel young. :)
It was so nice to get to just chill with my hubby and enjoy a meal rather than chasing Alex around Chuck E. Cheese begging him to eat his dinner. After dinner, we headed to Hamilton's on the north side. Get this...Lizi and Jennifer just turned me on to True Blood this week (man, I'm hooked). And Lizi told me about this bar they were turning into "fangtasia" at which Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette was going to make an appearance). Keith and I decided to take a chance and wait in line. And am I glad we did. With some persistence and a just a little bit of pushing (j/k), I inched my way up to the front. After waiting patiently for Nelsan, the bouncer moved aside and told Nelsan "she's been waiting a while." Nelsan is such a nice guy! I only had a blank piece of paper for him to autograph so he brought out his pic and autographed that instead. He's from Chicago actually! I was so giddy after that. But I'm glad to say that I didn't act a fool in front of him. :)

Alex's Vocab

Okay, so this is an LA pic, but the most recent thing I had to blog on this week's events in Alex's life. I can't believe how much he's talking now. He's definitely past the one-word caveman grunts. This week he said 4 words officially making a sentence, "I wuv you, dada." so cute...He also said "alli 'ta ball." Translation: Alli esta ball or "there is ball." He also says "ta?" for "Donde esta?" I love this age. I can't get over how cute he is, but then I'm sure no parent can get over how cute their kid is. :)

La Familia

The Bradster

The Hubby in Malibu

Venice Beach

Me and Vivien