Grandpa and Francesca

March 27, 2009

My babies

Francesca found my face today as I was holding her. She had just finished eating and we were having a little chat session face-to-face. (Francesca has all kinds of interesting things to say these days.) When I switched to cradle hold her, she reached up her left arm and started grabbing my mouth and chin - she smiled brighted-eyed up at me as if to say, "I found you!"

Francesca encontro mi cara hoy mientras yo la estaba cargando. Ella acababa de comer y nosotras estabamos teniendo una pequeña conversacion frente a frente (Francesca tiene muchas cosas interesantes que decir ultimamente). Cuando cambie para alzarla abrazadita, ella levanto su brazo izquierdo y empezo a tocar mi boca y quijada - tenia una sonrisa gigante con los ojos abiertos como si me quisiera decir "Te encontre!"

Mateo has a cold. His poor eyes are watery and his nose is runny. Of course, all he wants to do is smoosh up on his little sister, and keeping them apart is like mission impossible. At least he loves her. Any time he hears her crying he says, "Mama, Cesca lloando (llorando - crying)," and he goes right to wherever she is and tries to comfort her. It's the sweetest thing.

Mateo tiene una gripita. Sus ojitos estan llorosos y tiene moquitos. Claro, lo unico que quiere es acuchucarse con su hermanita, y tenerlos separados ha sido una mision imposible. Por lo menos el la quiere. Cuando el la escucha llorando dice: "Mama, Cesca lloando" y se va directico a donde ella esta y trata de calmarla. Es la cosa mas dulce.

I love my babies.

Amo a mis bebes.

Bathtime April 10th

Mateo takes a bath with Elmo fizzy tub colors...

... while Francesca takes a nap

Easter 2009

Here are some pictures from our Easter festivities this year. On Saturday, we celebrated by Grandma's 91st birthday and my cousin's 21st birthday in Easter Sunday style. On Easter Sunday we went to church and enjoyed lunch at my parents.

Aqui estan algunas de las fotos de la celebracion de la Pascua este año. El sábado celebramos el cumpleaños 91 de mi abuelita y el 21 de mi primo al estilo de un domingo de Pascua. El domingo fuimos a la iglesia y almorzamos con mis papas.

Great Grandma had blue frosting on her nose after this kiss!

Thuy Compas always takes great care of our babies

Daddy and Me

Easter Sunday

Flying Kites

March pictures

Here are a few random pictures from the month of March.
Estas son algunas fotos del mes de marzo.

Easter Eggs

"Eggs!" Mateo was really excited about dyeing Easter eggs today at the Perkinson's home. We went this morning, just Mateo and Mama, while Francesca stayed home with Grandma. There were lots of moms and kiddos there - a refreshing break from being home most of the week. I don't think I realized just how much I missed my own friends until we got there. Even though Mateo "got into it" a few times over the Elmo toys or stickers (sorry Rebekah!), it was still an enjoyable event.

Huevos! Mateo estaba muy emocionado cuando fuimos a pintar Huevos de Pascua en la casa de los Perkinson. Eso fue esta mañana, fuimos Mateo y yo, mientras que Francesca se quedo en casa con su abuelita. Habian muchos niños con sus mamas, un merecido descanso despues de haber estado en la casa casi toda la semana. Creo que no me habia dado cuenta lo mucho que
extraño a mis amigas hasta hoy que las volvi a ver. Aunque Mateo solo se intereso a ratos en los huevos porque estaba distraido con Elmo y unas calcomanias, pasamos un rato bien rico.

Here are a few pictures of Mateo's colorful creations. He stayed long after the other kids had finished dyeing their eggs. "Eggs!" he kept saying, and the whole way home I had to hold up the crate of dyed eggs so that he could see all the colors. The first thing he did when we got home was pick out a blue egg and smash it up - guess that was his way of showing how much he really liked it.

Aqui hay unas fotos de las creaciones coloridas de Mateo. El se quedo un buen rato despues de que los otros niños habian terminado de pintar los huevos. "Huevos" repetia, y todo el camino a casa me toco llevar levantada la caja de huevos para que el pudiera ver todos los colores. La primera cosa que hizo cuando llegamos a casa fue levantar el huevo azul y estriparlo conpletamente, me imagino que esa es su manera de mostrar que tanto le habia gustado... o tendra algo que ver con Millos?

Mateo and Natalie Perkinson

4 months old today

Francesca is 4 months old! Francesca tiene 4 meses!

Playdough

One of Mateo's birthday presents this year was Playdough (thank you, Boggs'!), and he loves it. Yesterday we got it out for the first time, and he chose green first. Yes, Cogua's, he is a born Cali fan.

Uno de los regalos del cumpleanos de Mateo fue Playdough (gracias a los Boggs'!), y le encanta. Ayer jugamos con el playdough por primera vez, y el escogio verde primero. Si, familia Cogua, el nacio para ser hincha del Cali.

Update on Francesca

Francesca is home and doing very well. We got to come home yesterday (Sunday). Everyone was glad to be home together again. Francesca was so excited, she didn't sleep all afternoon!

Francesca ya esta en casa y esta muy bien. Llegamos ayer (domingo). Todos estuvimos felices estar ya en casa juntos de nuevo. Francesca estaba tan contenta que no durmio toda la tarde!

Cord Free!

As of 6:45 this morning, Francesca is officially cord free. She slept through the night last night, and I actually had to wake her up this morning to eat. Yea!

Desde las 6:45 de la mañana, Francesca esta oficialmente sin cables! Durmio toda la noche y yo tenia que despertarla para comer! Siiii!

Hiccups and Monkeys

Francesca is feeling much better. She is off oxygen and her IV! She is back to talking and still finds her left hand very entertaining. In this video you can hear how excited she is about having the hiccups. :)

Francesca ya se siente mejor. Y no tiene oxigeno ni el cateter! Ya ha vuelto hablar y todavia encuentra a su mano izquierda muy interesante. En este video puedes escuchar lo contenta que esta de tener hipo. :)

This afternoon, Mama was able to spend a good amount of time home with Mateo. Of course much of that was taking a nap together, but he loves to snuggle, so I consider it quality time. When he woke up, the first thing he said was "Monkeys jumping. No, no," referring to his newest and favorite song "No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" from the album Party Like a Toddler by Go Fish, which Grandma and Grandpa gave him for his birthday. So, I put the song on and the two of us actually jumped on the bed and fell down, acting out all the words to the song. We had a great time - I wish I had that on camera!

Esta tarde, la Mama pudo pasar un buen rato en la casa con Mateo, claro que la mayoria del tiempo fue tomando una siesta, pero a el le encanta arruncharse con la Mama, entonces lo considero tiempo de calidad. Cuando se desperto, la primera cosa que dijo (en ingles) fue, "Monos saltando. No, no." haciendo referencia a su nueva cancion preferida "No mas monos saltando en la cama" que es del album nuevo "Rumbear como un niño" que fue el regalo de los abuelos Olsen para el cumpleaños. Entonces, puse la cancion y los dos saltamos en la cama de verdad, cayendo y actuando la letra de la cancion. No divertimos mucho - solo faltaba la camara!

You can hear the song at - Puedes escuchar la cancion en:

http://www.gofishguys.com/cms/pages/the-music/party-like-a-preschooler.php

Scroll down to #5 "Five Little Monkeys" and click "Hear It." It's a rockin' version of the classic.
Busque #5 "Five Little Monkeys" y haz click en "Hear It." Es una version chevere de la cancion original.

Francesca at Children's

Well, we are at Children's Hospital (again) with Francesca. She has pneumonia! On Monday, I took her to the doctor and they said she had a cold. On Tuesday, I took her again because she was wheezing, and they said she had bronchialitis. On Wednesday, I took her back to see how she was doing and they sent us to the hospital where they diagnosed her with pneumonia. That progressed fast! She is doing better, but will most likely be here over the weekend.

Bueno, estamos en el Hospital de Niños (si, otra vez) con Francesca. Ella tiene neumonia!. El lunes, la lleve al doctor y dijeron que tenia gripa. El martes, la lleve de nuevo porque le estaba sonando mucho el pecho y me dijeron que era bronqueolities. El miercoles, la lleve para saber como seguia y ellos nos enviaron directo al hospital en donde le diagnosticaron la neumonia. Paso muy rapido! Ella esta mejor, pero lo mas seguro es que estemos aqui todo el fin de semana.

While here at Children's, Francesca found her hand for the first time! She was laying propped up in her Boppy and started waving her arm around. Pretty soon she was looking at her hand with great interest and following her movements with her eyes. It was so fun to watch her discover herself.

Estando en el hospital, Francesca se encontro la mano por primera vez! Ella esta recostada en su almohada y empezo a mover la mano en circulos. Al ratitito ella estaba mirando su mano con mucho interes y seguia sus movimientos con los ojos. Fue muy divertido verla como descubre su propio cuerpo.

Hopefully we'll be home by Monday. In the meantime, Jose and I are balancing Francesca and Mateo - trying to be there for both of our precious children. I have been reflecting a lot on how precious life is. I am so grateful for our children and the blessing they are to us. I cannot imagine life without them and find myself reveling in the smalls joys like watching Francesca discovering her hand, hearing Mateo say, "I love you, Mama," and getting sweet kisses from my husband. Life is full of joy despite difficult circumstances.

Ojala estemos en casa el lunes. Mientras tanto, Jose y yo estamos tratando de balancear el tiempo que compartimos con nuestros preciosos hijos. He estado pensando mucho en lo bella que es la vida. Estoy muy agradecida por nuestros hijos y la bendicion que ellos son para nosotros. No me puedo imaginar la vida sin ellos y me encuentro a mi misma a travez de pequeños momentos como el ver a Francesca descubriendo su mano, o escuchando a Mateo diciendo "Te Amo Mama!" , y recibiendo los dulces besos de mi esposo. La vida esta llena de alegrias a pesar de las circunstancias.