Cogua Kids

Monday, August 22, 2011

Grandparents with Catalina - July 29th

Aquaphor is awesome, but not so much in pictures with a flash ... still isn't that the most adorable smile?!

Hmmm... What is Grandpa doing here?

New stuff

Well, even though I had all summer to post, I am just now getting down to it - and we are already into week 2 of the school year. How ridiculous.

Here are some "firsts" at our house ...

Catalina slept in her room in her crib for the first time this past weekend. I decided it was time to make the transition now that we are not expecting any guests for a while (her room doubled as the guest room this summer). Good-bye bassinet, hello sleeping through the night! Wait ... what? Oh yes! After one night in her crib, Catalina decided to go ahead and sleep straight through the night, 8pm-5am. She was a repeat offender last night sleeping from 8pm-6am. I can only hope she continues the pattern.

Mateo successfully taught Francesca to blow bubbles in the bath water. He has been working on this skill with her for the past week, and tonight was the night! It was quite the event, and we all shouted "Bravo!" after each bubble-blowing dunk. Darling.

I've said before that Mateo is a great big brother, but sometimes I know I am a little too over-protective of the girls and catch myself saying "no" too often. But it's moments like tonight when he was teaching Francesca to jump over Daddy's legs and to blow bubbles in the water that I remember that God knew exactly why we needed Mateo in our family.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Catalina 2 months at the zoo

We celebrated Catalina's 2 months at the Omaha Zoo. It was a HOT July afternoon, but it was "member appreciation" day at the zoo, so we just had to go. The kids saw the movie "Tornado Alley" at the IMAX (Mateo is fascinated by tornados), and Francesca wasn't sure what to think when the lights went out, but Abuelita was able to calm her down with popcorn! We received free passes to ride the train, and although the whistle startled Catalina quite a bit, she was a trooper. We only had one small mix-up when leaving the zoo at closing, which involved a radio transmission to all zoo staff looking for the lost abuelitas and 2 little girls in strollers, but the good thing was that Mateo and Mommy got a free ride on a golf cart. All-in-all a great, memorable afternoon.

This was Francesca's first time riding on one of the carousel animals that moves up and down. She was a little uncertain of the whole thing once it started moving, but I kept singing "Up! Down!" and she loosened up and enjoyed the ride... so much so that when it was over, she sat down on the carousel floor and refused to move. Some would mistakenly call this being "stubborn," but I say it is a classic example of her expressing her desire to do something in about the only way she could at the moment - a classic protest. As her Mommy, I feel it is my job to help other people understand that she is not "stubborn" (and often you might hear someone say that people with DS are stubborn), but she does need people around her who are willing to try and understand why she does what she does - what she is looking for or trying to accomplish or trying to express at the moment that an adult might be trying to direct her otherwise. I'm rambling, but I guess what I am trying to say is that Francesca is darling and that she knows exactly what she wants!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Saturday Fun

We went to the Aksarben shopping village this morning for a kids fair celebrating the new birthing center that will soon be here (a little late for Catalina!) It was super hot, but we had fun - there were inflatables, face painting and a little splash park. Here are some pics from our venture.

Mateo is such an incredible big brother. I am surprised daily by his initiative in showing both Francesca and Catalina how to do things, how he plays with each of his sisters in such a genuinely loving way. I am so proud of my son and thankful that God gave us Mateo first. In these pictures you can see how much Francesca looks up to her big brother and how sweet he is with her.

The tiger quickly washed away, but Mateo growled and screamed for quite a while after!

Catalina Rose - 7 weeks

Monday, June 27, 2011

Catalina 1 month

Catalina is one month old today! I can hardly believe how quickly that time has passed ... and she has grown so much. Our "Cata" is such a good baby. She cries when she needs to eat, be changed or just can't quite get herself to sleep. Mateo and Francesca love holding her. She has just been such a joyful addition to our family. Her favorite is to be snuggled up on someone's chest with her knees and feet tucked underneath and her little bum up in the air - Mommy and Cata have actually spent many a night sleeping that way!