A Family Vacation at Amelia Island, FL

We took our very first family vacation and went on holiday to Amelia Island, FL. It was so beautiful there and we had a fantastic time with the kids. This is the front entrance of the hotel where we stayed. There are 8 flags because this was the only place in the US that was under the rule of 8 different countries. I love the curve of these trees.



This is the view from our room on the 5th floor. It was so beautiful, but don't let that bright blue sky fool you. It was freezing cold. Literally! When you travel with kids, you end up taking everything but the kitchen sink. By the time I was done packing for them, there was no room for Esteban and I. Oh well. Atleast the kids were warm, but we didn't suffer too badly.

This was the view from our balcony. I loved it! It was stunning.

Here is the sunset from our front door.

And here is the sunrise from our balcony. I could wake up to this view everyday!

On day one, it was very cold so we stayed close to the hotel. We did leave for lunch and then we took the kids to the park, but it was so cold, we only lasted about 30 minutes. In the evening, we went to Historic Fernandina Beach for dinner.

On day two, we went to Fort Clinch State Park. This fort was built in 1847 and was never completed. It was too bad that we missed the reenactments, but there was one soldier there and he was definately in character, telling us all about his duties and life in the fort. It was an awesome place and we loved that Jayden could play freely without getting into too much trouble. I love this snapshot of Esteban and the kids.

Now this day was much warmer than the day before. I believe it was 52 degrees, 10 degrees warmer than the day before but with the winds off of the beach it sure didn't feel like it. Luckily, there were tons of trees surrounding the playground and it felt really nice without the wind. This was Maya's first time in a real swing and you could tell that it took her breathe away, but once she got used to it, she was laughing and carrying on as much as Jayden did.

I think Maya looked like a little Eskimo in her winter gear. You can see from the background what a beautiful place this park was. We loved our visit there.

Here's an attempt at a family shot. Jayden and Maya are looking at each other, but I guess that's pretty typical of our everyday life. Those two are always engaging each other's interests.

I love this picture too. Jayden was crying his head off up until about 15 seconds before this shot because he didn't want to leave the swing. Poor boy!

On day three, it was much warmer so we went to the zoo. We had a lot of fun. Jayden seemed really interested in the animals whose names he knew. He loved the birds, fish, and monkeys.

Of course, I tried to get him to pose for a picture with Mommy, but that was clearly too much to ask. He's such a party pooper!

On day four, we went to Kingsley Plantation. It's the oldest plantation home still standing in Florida. The crops were cotton, indigo and sugar cane. There are 25 of the original 32 slave cabins on the property. About 100 people lived and worked here and about 60 of them did so in the slave cabins. Here's Jayden and daddy facing the Fort George River.

Here's smiling Maya, taking in the view.

Here we are laying around one of the many large oak trees on the property.

Afterwards, we went to the Jacksonville Landing and took in the views of the St. John's River. We walked around for a little bit and headed to St. Augustine where we ended our trip at my cousin's house. I can't wait for us to do this again!

Maya turns Nine Months Old!

My princess is 9 months old now. At her last check up, she was weighing 19 pounds and 4 ounces and measuring 28 inches long. And there is so much she can do. Maya has mastered the sitting position and she can now go from sitting to crawling with great ease. It's awesome because I was always so worried about her banging her head on the ceramic tile. Now, she sits for awhile and when she gets tired, she goes to crawling. Her preferred method is still the army crawl, but she does crawl on her hands and knees at times. If she sees a toy that gets her attention, she'll work really hard to get to it. She can stand if her hold her hands, but she won't pull herself up or hold on to furniture yet and believe me, I am in no rush.

She's getting much better with a sippy cup and she does really well with finger foods. In fact, we often give her table food and she really seems to enjoy it. She's definitely got a sweet tooth though so I have to be on the look out for that. And Maya babbles on and on and on. While she only makes the ma-ma sound when she's crying/whining, she has clearly started to say da-da when she sees daddy. She loves to play, especially with Jayden and she can hold her own against him. More often than not, Jayden will be the one to call for help 'cause Maya grabs him by the hair or tries to bite him. She is STILL not sleeping through the night and I really wish she would. Will I ever get a good night's sleep again?

Boy is she a pistol! I've always had a pretty good idea of what Maya's personality would be like, but now Daddy is starting to see it too and we both agree. This little girl is going to keep us on our toes. It's amazing how different a baby she is compared to Jayden at that age. He was so easy going. I only had to worry about feeding him on schedule. That's it. Well times have changed! Maya has a strong personality and if she doesn't get what she wants, look out. One of the new things she's started to do this month is screaming at the top of her lungs. I'm telling you; it's amazing she hasn't burst her voice box. If Jayden takes her toy away or Mommy walks in the opposite direction, she goes bonkers. It's hard trying to set limits, but I try to teach her that no matter how loud she cries, kicks and screams, I am no longer going to come running. Well, sometimes I give in, but it's a work in progress. She's always fussing about one thing or another and I constantly have to change her position or environment. She gets bored really fast and her naps are more like cat naps. I have zero free time with her because every time I set her down and try to do something, she starts to flail her arms and lets and cry about one thing or another.

Maya has also decided that she loves to bite and she's going to do it whenever she can. Fair warning! If you pick her up and her mouth comes anywhere near exposed skin, I can guarantee that she's going to chomp down. I've got several bruises to prove it. I am in the process of teaching her that biting is not acceptable, which is so hard. What I do is let her get close and let her teeth touch my skin and the second I feel her bearing down, I start to pat her rear end. The harder she tries to bite and the more she persists, the firmer I pat and say "No biting." So far, this is working well. A couple of pats on the tushy and she's reminded that biting is a no-no and I feel great because I can teach her without hurting her. {Sigh.} My baby is growing up.

2007 Christmas

Here's a peek at our Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Maya decided to try to get a sneak peek at the presents. She dove right in with her mouth. I thought it was funny and reached for the camera but Jayden was appalled!
After, I got Maya to fall asleep, Jayden and I made Christmas cookies. We had so much fun. We made Viennese Vanilla Cookies and they were delicious. I would say they were a blend of a sugar cookie and a butter cookie and they were filled with almonds. I rolled them out and cut them out into Christmas shapes. Then I decorated them and for the next two hours, all Jayden could say was cookie! It was like his entire vocabulary was gone, except for cookie. Here he is winking at me.

It was hard getting him to understand that we had to cook them first. He was very amused by them.

I put the kids in bed with me that night. As you can see, Jayden was knocked out, but Maya was waiting for Santa Claus to come.

On Christmas morning, Jayden rolled over and spotted Maya and the first thing he does is roll over onto her and give her hugs and kisses, which she loves.

For breakfast, I made stuffed french toast. It was yummy delicious and then Maya fell asleep so we had to wait for her to wake up before opening presents. They were very fun to watch. Jayden opened up all of his presents and even though Maya was doing very well on her own, Jayden had to help her too. Then he tried to take ownership over the gifts too. Silly goose!

All I ever saw of him was his back. He was like the Tasmanian Devil and there was wrapping paper everywhere. To him, it was like a job and he took it very seriously. When he was done opening one gift, he was back for more.

Maya loved her toys, especially this little piggy that sings a song and does a jiggle. She immediately expressed her love for it by gnawing on it.

Although you could never tell by the pictures, Jayden spent most of the day crying. He's all about having temper tantrums now and here he is after he recovered from his last fit. He got a helmet and pads for Christmas and he wore the helmet to open gifts, but he did not want the helmet to ride his new scooter.

He refused to ride the scooter and insisted on walking next to it instead so of course, he fell down about a million times. So we switched gears and pulled out his tricycle. After his next fit, he managed to have a little fun with Daddy.

Then we put Maya in the swing while Jayden was on his bike, which caused another fit. Oh well. He' just going to have to get over it. Maya wasn't phased by his screaming at all. She was having fun.To end the screaming, we decided to put the kids into the wagon. Jayden was going for the Oscar, Best Dramatic Actor. It was another fit. But Maya was having a ball. When Jayden thought Mommy and Daddy were leaving without him, he settled down and got into the wagon.

Here they are holding hands and Maya is just all smiles at Mr. Jayden.

Doesn't he look devious here?

Merry Christmas!

Trying To Keep Old Traditions Alive

It was a tradition in my family to make many wonderful and special foods and desserts for Christmas. I always fondly think back on Christmases past and miss all the festivities that I no longer participate in. I do remember opening presents on Christmas Eve, but more than that I remember it being a time of family and friends, of food and music and a time of celebration and church.

Puerto Ricans celebrate Noche Buena, which is on Christmas Eve. A huge component of it was all of the special Christmas dishes. You could expect to find pernil (roast pork shoulder), arroz con gandules, (yellow rice with pigeon peas), pastelles (some people call these tamales), arroz con dulce (coconut rice pudding) and coquito (our version of eggnog). In addition to all the food, there was music, dancing, and lots of friends and family. I also remember the parrandas (our version of caroling) with lots of singing and instrument playing. There was always the guitar, the tambourine, some sort of drum, the guiro and the maracas. In fact, some people were even offended if their home was not visited. There was a break in the party for la Misa de Gallo, or Midnight Mass, but after that the party went on until the early morning hours.

Now as an adult, I am sad that my kids won’t experience all of the culture and traditions that I got to experience and I try to keep some of it alive by doing some of the cooking that I remember. Many of the dishes have a higher level of difficulty and are labor intensive. I can remember helping my mom with tons of preparations and I wish I had paid better attention. This year, I decided to try my hand at one of the dishes I miss the most and that’s Arroz con Dulce.

It wasn’t easy. First I scoured the internet looking for recipes that somewhat resembled my mom’s version. This was not easy since my mom’s recipes are in her head. They aren’t written down and no measurements are exact. Finally I found one and I consulted my mother. Of course, it was all wrong and she began to tell me all about what I would need, how I would put it together and the techniques I would use. And of course, none of the steps were in order. Mostly, I felt overwhelmed. I took a trip to the Spanish grocery store to find the specialty items and then I attempted it.

I will spare you the details, but it took me almost 4 hours and I ended up with something that was pretty darn close to my mom’s rice pudding, expect that it was a little undercooked. Now for a little nostalgia: my mom was a self taught cook and I she worked on this recipe for years before having success. I remember one year, her batch was undercooked. She was so disappointed and distraught over it. After all, she had spent so many hours, worked with so many ingredients and this was truly a labor of love. She would make huge batches of it. It was a dish that she would bring to other’s homes as gifts. I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I told her over and over again that it was ok because I liked it a little crunchy. Looking back now, I don’t think she bought it, but I hope it made her smile. Now, I had to smile because I would be making myself feel better by reminding myself that I liked it a little crunchy.

Maya's First Ear Infection

Maya was running such a high fever yesterday. I tried to get the fever to break, but was only successful once so I decided to take her in to the doctor’s office today. It turns out she has her very first ear infection. This is the first time she’s been on antibiotics and she doesn’t like the droppers of medicine one bit. Every time I give Maya a dropper of medicine, Jayden’s waiting nearby for his share so I give him his fluoride supplement instead.

It’s so hard to see her just laying there with such a sad look on her face. She’s usually all smiles but I can’t get a smile out of her. Jayden has been trying to play with Maya and get her to laugh too but no luck. He doesn’t give up though. He keeps trying which usually ends up upsetting Maya. Oh well. I can’t fault the guy for trying. I’ve been spending extra time carrying her around and rocking her and soothing her so Mr. Jayden has been a bit jealous. This means that I have to rock him too and comfort him and assure him that Maya will get better soon. Now when Maya coughs, he coughs too. Then he comes over so I can pat his back. He cracks me up. He’s stir crazy too. He wants to go outside to play, but since the temperature had dropped, I don’t want to take Maya out that way. He doesn’t understand that of course so he just stands by the window or the sliding glass door and says “Outside mommy, outside”. Over and over and over again. We can’t wait for Maya to feel better.

Maya Turns 8 Months Old

This month got by me so fast. I was not even able to take her usual monthly picture in her crib with her white teddy, but I got one with Santa instead. I did want to take a moment to provide a quick update. She’s weighing 19 pounds and outgrew all of her 6 month clothes. She’s in her 9 month outfits, just barely. Soon, she’ll be wearing 12 months.

My little girl is so very active. She is not crawling but she drags herself everywhere and it’s so cute ‘cause she uses her big toe to push off. Jayden is really good about calling me when she makes her way over to the Christmas tree which she loves to do. She likes to grab the lights and guess what? She puts them in her mouth! She also scoots her way towards Rio. She started to pat at him and pull his whiskers and he just lay there. He took this as permission to be affectionate with her and put his big ole paw on her which of course hurt her. He got in big trouble that day so now when Maya comes over, he gets up and walks away. Good boy, Rio!

She’s also sitting for longer periods of times, but still falls over so I only sit her down in her playpen or her crib. She did have her first bump one day when I sat her next to me on the floor. Then I started to play with Jayden and forgot about her and next thing you know she had crashed into the floor. My poor baby. I was so sorry for her and for me too. Esteban is a finger pointer and he was giving me the evil eye. LOL!

She’s starting to use all the toys that Jayden no longer uses, which of course means he wants them now more than ever. She plays with the peek a boo blocks and with the activity cube. Jayden brings her all the blocks and then takes them away. He’s also started that annoying little habit of saying “Mine!” I had to nip that in the bud right away. “SHARE!!!”

Maya is a great eater. She’s eating cereal and baby food. I have also started to give her table food and finger foods. She’s adorable when she tries to grab the puffs and put them in her mouth. They land everywhere. Of course, this is an open invitation to Jayden to grab them. After all, they are fair game. I’ve given her crackers and fruit. She loves it when I put the fruit in that little sucker contraption. She eats banana, apple, orange, grapes, and pears. In fact, now Jayden wants his fruit that way too. Every once in a while, I will let him have it that way too and he’s always ever so grateful. I’ve also given Maya rice and mashed potatoes. She makes the cutest faces when she’s eating. I’m still working on her with a sippy cup, but she’s getting better at it. She has a full serving of cereal, a vegetable and a fruit and she’s still hungry. Yikes. I’m thinking of going to stage three baby food.

Maya understands a lot more now. She cries when I leave the room and when I come running back to see what happened, she smiles. Because of this, I’ve started to teach her “no”. But I can see she’s going to be a stubborn little girl and this is going to be a work in progress.

PS In case you are wondering, Jayden met Santa too, but he could care less. He was so excited that Jim, our neighbor, was there that he had no interest in Santa. Here's Jayden rubbing his eye and pouting 'cause he didn't want to take his picture with Santa and Maya. It's like I always say. Jayden wouldn't be Jayden if he wasn't refusing to do something!

Jayden Meets the Dentist!

Jayden had his first visit to the dentist. It was a very nice pediatric dentistry office and the lobby had a safari theme. There were bamboo shoots and they were decorated with animal lights. There was a very inviting play area and a TV. Jayden was up and playing in no time. I was starting to get nervous as I waited and noticed that the other moms waited in the lobby while their kids went in alone. Jayden would never go for that.

Finally it was our turn and when the hygienist saw Jayden she said it was ok for me to go too. (Thank you God.) It was a huge open space with various chairs and little TV screens were built into the ceiling so the kids could watch cartoons. I sat down and Jayden sat on my lap. He leaned backwards onto the hygienist’s lap and she did a quick cleaning. Really, they just applied a fluoride treatment, but Jayden wasn’t happy at all. He was squirming, but I’m sure they are used to it cause she was done in a flash. She gave him a bath toy and a goodie bag and went on her way.

Then the dentist came over and she was super sweet. I could tell she had a way with children. She took a look at Jayden’s mouth and did her count. All twenty teeth were present and accounted for and his teeth were in great shape. (Big sigh of relief for me.) She did warn me that I had to start flossing Jayden’s teeth. (Is she kidding?) He will have his grinders until he’s about 10-12 years old so we’ll want to protect them and by the time kids come in at ages 4-5, they usually have a mouth full of cavities. (What?) While I was there, there was a little girl getting a root canal!

Needless to say, I went running to the store to get floss picks for him and started brushing and flossing that night. He’s pretty well used to it now. He lays on my lap while I poke around. Sometimes he is stubborn and clenches his jaws, but for the most part he’ll cooperate. I can’t believe how quickly he’s growing up!