And now.... Gaby!

Gabriela was still 6+ years old the last time I updated the blog, and she is now 8. I cant even believe I have an 8 years old daughter!!! She is very innocent but also very rebel. She's still my drama queen. She is doing a lot of things by herself, even showering and getting ready for school in the mornings without hassle. She is a little geeky and she is crazy with Wii and computer in general. She is interested in Facebooking, talking to her friends on the phone, and it is dying for a Blackberry. She actually uses mine to chat with with some of my friends, and she does it very good and fast.

As Gaby was also supposed to go to Ecuador for a few months, last school year she missed some classes from Second Grade. Then, I placed her on a very small school to finish the 2nd Grade, however the experience wasnt very good and I got the impression that she didnt learn a lot. When I registered her for this school year, I discussed this situation with the Principal and Psychologist and we all agree that she should be placed in 2nd Grade again. I agreed mostly because I didnt want her to be behind on 3rd Grade compared to the other kids, but also because she is so innocent and doesnt have the same "street smart" as the kids her age. Most of the kids her age already cross street by themselves, and can buy stuff and handle money perfectly good, and are thinking about boyfriends. Anyway, she started 2nd Grade and by the end of the first week she was promoted to 3rd Grade because she was too advanced for that grade. So far she is doing very good in her classes and she gets along with all the kids. I picked up her grades for the second period already and she has all A's and B's (Between 80 and 95).

She has always been the one of my three girls less interested in eating, however she has been eating non-stop in the past few months. She gained A LOT of pounds, and now I have her watching more the amount she eats, because she is too chubby for her height. She is 80 pounds and 51.5 inches tall (4' 3 1/2""). According to the chart for her age she is in 94th percentile for weight and 66th percentile for height.

She is still very much in love with animals, especially dogs, and she loves watching Animal Planet. She also likes to watch the History Channel and mostly all the channels from Discovery pack. She would learn the most amazing things and loves to tell them to everybody. She loves drawing and coloring, as well as toys were she can built or make stuff (like puzzles, legos, jewelry makers toys). She still adores purple, and likes to match it with turquoise and pink.

Not many pictures of Gaby because the camera hates her. She doesnt have the photogenic vein that Camila has. But here some some. Here she is modeling for Baby Time, then just smiling for the camera, and then at Ariel's Pirate Birthday party:

Here she is on the airport after her sisters left to Ecuador (that was one of the last pictures of her with her normal weight), then with Camila at home in a pool day, and then by herself on the same day:

Here she is with her sisters after getting some make up on, then on Father's Day with a lollipop and then on her first day of this school year:

What about Camila?

Camila was just a few months after turning 4 the last time that I posted. Now, she is 5.5 years old and it is amazing the change in her aspect and behavior. I have let her hair grown, and that gives her an older look. Her face looks all grown, and she is now taller and skinier, instead of short and chubby. She is 50 pounds and 44 inches tall (3' 8 1/2"). That is 83rd percentile for weight and 57th percentile for height according to her age.

She's my little model and diva. She loves posing at the camera and it is amazing how much the camera adores her. Regardless if she is crying, smiling, not looking, upset, she would still look gorgeous. When I want a picture of her, I normally take 2 or 3 pictures to get a nice shot, sometimes only 1 picture is enough.

She also got to experience some time in Ecuador like Mimi and it helped her to tone it down with her "mommy's separation anxiety issue". However, she's still very much a mommy's girl and she would do ANYTHING just to be by my side. She's still the most sensitive little girl in the world, and strong words will hurt her like if somebody had spanked her. She's super funny and caring, and it is amazing the ability she has of making people smile even in their worst day.

She loves fixing her hair, as well as everybody's hair. She have had a thing for this since she was a baby. The best game for her would be a room full of dolls, with cribs, bibs, diapers, bottles and of course, hair accessories to fix their hair. She keeps asking for a little brother or sister... Like non-stop! LOL.

She loves dancing too, and she is Shakira's number 1 fan. She would sing some of her songs, and she wants to dance just like her. Actually all three of them have a thing for Shakira, but Camila shows it more.

Just like Mimi, she also started the school year in Abril while she was in Ecuador, and officially at the end of August here. She is in Kinder and I cant believe that very soon she will be finishing preschool. Her favorite color is YELLOW, and everything that matches (like orange and red).

Here is Camila modelling for Baby Time, then one day trying to fix her hair (she does it as good as a 12 years old girl already), and then at Ariel's Pirate birthday party:

Here she is at our Annual Family Reunion, then at the airplane on her way to Ecuador and then on a bus while in Ecuador:

Here she is with her face painted at a park, then the day she visit for the first time the school she was in Ecuador, and then on her 5th birthday:

Here she is with a plush dog she got the day she got her Ecuadorian papers while I was there, then being all sassy at home, and then with my friend Perla doing what she was doing....

Here she is with her big lollypop she got on Father's Day at my dad's house and the last one is outside of her school's playground: All ready for Kinder!

What's Mimi up to?

The last time I posted about Mimi it was a few months after she turned 3 years old. She is now 4.5 years old and she has grown SOO much. Well, she sounds older, she acts older, her face looks older, but she is still my little petite lady. According to the scale, she has gain some weight but according to my eyes, she is still the same. I can still say at places that she is 2 years old so I dont have to pay the fare for her and they never question it... very convenient for me :) We have weighted her a few times and it differs from one scale to the other, but one thing is for sure, she is still on the 20's, she is close to 30 pounds, but not quite yet. (Update: Have official height and weight: She is 32 pounds and 39 inches tall (3'3"). That is supposedly 11st percentile for her age.

Mimi is still VERY independent, however only when she wants. She likes to do everything her way, so even though she can perfectly feed herself since she was like 2 years old, sometimes she just wants to be babied and have somebody to feed her. She loves asking that to my grandma who has a weak heart for her. She still loves the water very much and she's not afraid of the pool or beach or going under water.

I have lost count of how many times she has needed stitches so far, but for the purpose of not forgetting the dates and keeping it here, she got two new ones. An scar on the right side of her nose (very scary moment when that happened back in August 2010), and then another one in her head (totally cured already and lost inside her hair) that happened in August 2011. I guess August is not her month.

Camila and her spent a few months with their dad in Ecuador which was a great experience for her, because got to meet her dad's family (like REALLY know them) and she got the oportunity to go to school there and experience something different. She started Pre-K there, because their school year is from April to November, instead of September to June like here or the states.

I picked her up on her birthday's weekend back in May and they made a mini pool party for her. It was a beautiful experience.

She officially started Pre-K here at the end of August and she is doing great. She is very advanced for her age and her vocabulary and fine motor skills are beyond what it is expected for her age. This is kinda funny because she looks sooo tiny but her language is so fluent that you have the idea that you are talking with an adult trapped on a babies body.

She loves playing Wii Sports and computer games, and her favorite things to do are coloring and pretend play (dolls and such). She is officially my little Princess and her favorite color is still PINK.

Here are some pictures from August 2010 up to now. In the first one you can see the scar she has now in her face, then doing a modeling job for Baby Time Slings, and then at Ariel Enrique's Pirate 4th Birthday party (Sept. 2010):

On this three, the first one is with Camila in our Annual Family Reunion (from my mom's side), then on the airplane on her way to Ecuador, and then eating a traditional soup from Ecuador:

Here she is being silly... The first one is at a park around February, and the second one is at another park in May when we were in Ecuador. The third one she was hiding in the bathroom door in the hotel we were staying before coming back to DR.

Here she is with her sisters at a pool day at home, then again being silly with Camila and my friend Perla... In the last one, she is just being cute....

Here she is on Father's Day eating a lollipop, then on her first day of Pre-K with Camila, and then being a goofy in front of a mirror...

Here she is flying on Gaby's birthday (while I was trying to avoid a heart attack), then playing Wii, and hugging Arnold (a plush dog with a story.... which will be for another moment).


Edited her height and weight :) First paragraph.

First post of 2011... Major updates!

It's been over a year since my last post... Shame on me!! There are some many things to update that I wouldnt even know how to begin.

To start, we are now a family of four, which means All girls. It's been several months, however to avoid the drama of public posting, I decided to wait until now to post about it. In the meantime, we moved into a bigger house along with my mom and grandma, so we are actually 6 females under the same roof (plus Lupita, my mom's chihuahua).

I will be posting a single post for each one of the girls as there are many things to post about each one, so each one deserve her own post. My goal is to start posting at least once a month unless there is something special that I want to post about. After all, the whole purpose of the blog is to keep my family and friends updated, plus giving the girls something to read about their childhood when they are older.

As for me, Im still working with my business at 3 Little Flowers, however I only have the blog for now... Orders are welcome. I'm also working for Nikon and it's great to be able to play with the cameras and help people if they have any issues. Being a single mom is not easy, however I'm super happy and I don't regret it. I really wouldn't change a thing.

The picture is from Gaby's 8th birthday earlier this month, I will talk more about it on another post (coming soon).

By the way, I also updated the "About Us" section from this blog. Check it out.

What's going on?

A lot have been going on since the last update. My mother in law got to be sent from New Jersey to Ecuador to be buried in her native country and hubby got to fly over there to say the last good bye to his mom. She was buried on Saturday the 10th.

In a good note, even though it was for a VERY sad reason, hubby had 18 YEARS without visiting his native country and it has been something huge for him to be able to see all that family that he haven't seen in sooo long, and to meet those that were not even born the last time he was there. He is still there, and he will be coming back next week.

Gaby also lost another tooth (notice on the first picture), and survived *another* ear infection (sigh!). Mimi has an eating strike, and it is hardly eating. My poor petite baby is getting skinnier. Camila is doing great but misses daddy very much. The nanny, Yudy, is happy at home, and we love having her around! Me? Working like a donkey!

Last week I bring home a Nikon D50 with a 50mm 1.8 lens and here are some pictures I took (well, some of them were taken by my friend Perla who was home with us that day):

Rest in Peace Mrs. Jenny (1954-2010)

Words cant express the pain that we are feeling right now. My mother in law went to heaven to became an angel and we were just not ready to let her go. Her heart has been sick for sooo many years that people would think we were ready for it.

There are people that are sick for years and years, and the doctors keep telling their family that they wont make it pass two months, or a month, or a couple of weeks... However, sometimes those people live years and years and overcome every crisis. I have seen my mother in law REALLY sick. But then, she used to get over it and simply continue with her life. For the past 2 months, she kept telling Ernest that she was ready to leave, and it looks like she was. This day at 3:30am her heart simply stop beating. It was past 5am when our phone ring. It was Ernest's brother in law and we just knew it.

She left behind her husband, her son and daughter in law, her daughter and son in law, 4 grandchildren plus 1 one unborn grandchild. She is leaving all of us heartbroken, but knowing that she is now in a better place where there is no more pain. She had this huge smile and contagious laugh that will carry on in our memories forever. She was a devoted wife, an exceptionally caring mother and a loving grandmother.

I cant keep out of my mind something that she used to complain about. It was a metallic taste on her mouth and the feeling her teeth were going to fall off. Doctors were never able to figure this out. It gives me peace the fact that she will NEVER EVER feel that again.

I also wanted to share here a "note" that my hubby wrote on his Facebook. He actually wrote it on Spanish, so here is the translation:
My mother. I miss you so much. I have so many beautiful memories from you that I will never forget. Things like faith. I know you once said that you were ready to go and I said “No”. You knew your heart could make it anymore and you were getting ready to go. Even though it was hard to admit it, I have the hope that I will see you again and you will hug me and kiss me and call me: “My Israelito” (Israel is his middle name).
My beautiful mommy is hard to say good bye; not having you, not being able to hear your voice, and not being able to see you. But I know you are now happy so I will be happy with you. I know I now have a new guardian angel taking care of me on every movement and every decision that I make.
I love you!

I put together some pictures of her and I would like to share some of them. They are from 2005 up to 2009. She used to love the sand and the beach, and seeing her on the beach or a pool was like seeing a little girl getting in the water for the first time.







Mrs. Jenny: You just left and we already miss you so much! I guess we will see in Heaven again!

New ddition to our family PLUS Updates

Yesterday somebody joined our families. We hired a live in nanny that will be staying with us everyday and will be leaving twice a month. She is 32 years old has 4 kids of her own (13, 11, 9 and 3) and they live with her mom in a town very far away. She goes and visit them once per month. She prefers live in jobs because she has no other place to stay in this town, and paying rent for her is not doable. She looks very caring and we are pleased so far.

I prefer a live in nanny because that person gets to be part of our family and I feel more comfortable having the girls with somebody that I know is clean and loving and caring. She will help out with some of the girls chores, but her main responsibility is "be there" for the girls when Ernest and I are working outside of the house at the same schedule (normally at nights). Before, they used to go to my mom's house and were taken out of their environment, so I prefer them to stay here in their own house. I will keep you guys updated.

And now, here I go with the updates that I have made. Just click on the image or title to see them:

First week out of school PLUS updates!

I took a few days off from work because the girls are out of school and out of their afternoon activities. Thinking about getting them on Summer Camps or some sort of activity for this summer, but we havent really decide what we are going to do.

In the meantime, enjoy these NINE posts that I made from November and December 2009. There are only a couple more posts missing from December, but this is what I have completed so far. I tried to keep the text to the minimum so it doesnt bore you guys! Just click on the picture or title to view each post:

I'm back - Quick update from us!

A new post!! FINALLY!! I have missed my blogs so much, and I think it is time to start blogging again. I will try to catch up, and that is what I plan to do for the next days. I cant promise to post on a daily basis, but who knows if I manage it. Here is a quick update from each one of the girls:

Last Friday was the last day of Toddler 2. She turned 3 last month, and even though she is still a peanut, you can tell how much she has grown just listening to her. She talks way better of what Camila and Gaby talked at 3 years old, and they were great talkers: So that is a lot to say. Her coloring has improved a lot and she hardly leaves white spots while she does it. She knows her colors, and can count until 5. I don’t believe there is anything that she cant actually express, and she makes sure to make her point across. She can play with mostly every toy around (especially the one that it is already in use by one of her sisters), however I dare to say that what she likes the most is arts and crafts. If there is crayons, paint, scissors, glue and paper, she will leave behind ANY toy she may be playing with. Lately she has been playing a lot with “My Little Ponies” and she loves to brush their hair. She still loves water and loves TO EAT more than anything in the world (I still wonder where is all that food going).

She finished the Toddler 3 class last Friday, and even though her evaluation will be next week, I know I will be hearing great things from her. She turned 4 in April, yet she is still like a big baby to me. She is still a very happy child, however some changes that occurred in our household for the last few months affected her the most from all 3 girls (most of you know what Im talking about, if not just ask me privately). She loves pretend play like there is no tomorrow, and she needs a doll with her 24/7. That doll needs to have all her needs covered, so she needs at least: a bottle, a bib or blanket, a pacifier, and needs to be properly dressed (preferably with a change of clothes). She still prefers to play with the sand instead of the water when we are on the beach, however when she gets in the water she doesn’t want to get out. She is still a mama’s girl; however she is crazy about daddy to. She will do ANYTHING for a hug and a kiss, and prefers to cuddle with us than anything else (which can be very cute, except for when I want to go to the bathroom or simply have a 2 minutes alone time). She started taking ballet classes with Gaby, even though I think she is more into wearing the ballet outfit than dancing itself.

She finished first grade last Friday and I still cant believe it. Getting to first grade was a huge milestone itself, but getting to an end feels like my daughter is a little lady. I will get her grades on the 24th and I cant wait. Back in January, I switched her to another school (that is a whole new post), and this school is primarily in Spanish. She now can read mostly ANYTHING, and I just love how she can read books to her sisters, and how easy it has become for her. We have to work hard with her English so she doesn’t forget what she had accomplished before, and I plan to work on it on the summer. She continues to be a dog lover and she misses Sassy very much. We told her to ask Santa for a new puppy this Christmas as we are planning to get her a female cocker spaniel (and of course, we will be naming her Lady like the movie). She loves computer games and watching movies for big kids. She also loves taking pictures, playing with her VPocket and actually anything that involves technology. I’m 100% sure strong genes from her daddy and me were passed to her, and I cant wait for her to grow a bit and start designing like I do. She is also in love with My Little Pony, The littlest Pet Shop, Barbie, Fairies in general and Disney Princesses. She is taking ballet classes in the afternoon and she LOVES it!

As for me, I continue doing my designing business at 3 Little Flowers, and Im also working for a camera brand. It helps me stay close to photography and Im learning a lot about it. Ernest still working at the same school, and now has a second job at nights for a cell phone company. Busy bees!