Happy Birthday Little Monkey!!!

On Sunday, we had Cristiana's big 1st birthday party at Phelps Park in Winter Park. God blessed us with such a gorgeous day (I had been worried that it would either rain or be too chilly for the park, but it was PERFECT!) The day started out as a crazy mess (as celebrations always seem to in our family)icing cupcakes and Cristiana's smash cake, cutting up cheese, fruits, and little sandwiches (Thanks MOM), picking up spanish pastries (thanks sis and brother in law), making sure Cristiana had a good nap, finishing the centerpieces (thanks family), and then running to the park to decorate (thanks hunny and Eric for exposing your inner Martha Stewart :P), but in the end it turned out better than I could have imagined! I expected Cristiana to dive right into her cake but I think she was a bit overwhelmed by everyone staring at her. She even cried a bit when everyone clapped as she dug into the icing (she doesn't seem to like being the center of attention, which I'm not sure where she got that from). She ended up eating mostly the icing but eventually did have a few pieces of the banana cake mom made for her.

I can't believe this day finally came. It seems as though it were yesterday she was still in my womb. Time flies so quickly and she's growing up too fast.
Thanks to all our friends who came out to celebrate with us and thank you so much hunny, Jackie, and Eric. You guys were an amazing help. Words cannot express how appreciative I am of everything.

Happy 1st Birthday mi Cha-Cha!

Congrats Reixa and Jack

This past weekend was a very busy one for us. Not only were Cristiana's festivities in the midst but my very good friend Reixa that worked with me at Boone also got married. Since the family was in town, we decided to go on our own to the wedding. Can you believe that this is only the 2nd time we have been out alone together since Cristiana was born 1 yr ago? Crazy. Though Cristiana is still going through a bit of mommy separation anxiety (she was very nervous and complaintive the entire time I was getting ready, she knew I was going somewhere) it only took her about 1 min. to get over it, and why not, I mean she had 3 babysitters (grandma, auntie, and uncle). It was a beautiful wedding held in a lakefront property which created a great romantic atmosphere.

I Love you Reixa and wish you and Jack nothing but the best. May God bless your marriage with happiness and love (and tons of kids too!).

Celebrating at Magic Kingdom

On Friday the family (My sister, her husband, my mom, Jaime, Cristiana, and I) went to Magic Kingdom to continue celebrating Cristiana's birthday. This was Cristiana's 1st trip to Magic Kingdom and you could definitely see the difference in her reaction at this park compared to her normal behavior at Animal Kingdom (when we went in October). She seemed a bit overwhelmed by all the sites, colors, and sounds at Magic Kingdom. Cristiana rode It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, the Carousel, and the Buzz Lightyear ride which she did NOT seem to like very much. The best part of the day was her interaction with Daisy Duck. This was her 1st real character interaction since she really didn't do any at Animal Kingdom in October. It was SOOOO cute. After greeting her while she was in my arms, Daisy got down on the ground and I sat Cristiana in front of her. For the past week or so Cristiana has been hugging all her dolls and stuffed animals and while she's hugging them she says awwwww.. Well, she touched Daisy's feathers and I guess she noticed she was soft like her animals and then proceeded to hug her and say awwwww like she does with her all stuffed animals. It was SOOOO DARN CUTE. I could have melted! She also gave Daisy a kiss on her bill. My sister caught it on camera just look for it on the slide show below.

Another great day to celebrate our little angel's birthday.

Celebrating at Chili's

My mom, sister, and brother-in-law all arrived on Thursday to spend the weekend with Cristiana celebrating her big 1st birthday. We started the weekend by going to Chili's to eat dinner. Eating with Cristiana has gotten more interesting lately since she doesn't seem to want to sit still in her hook on chair any more. She prefers to try and stand up and reach across the table to grab whatever it is the other person has. She spent most of dinner trying to grab everything that was around her and of course we spent dinner trying to take and keep things away from her. We did have the waiters at Chili's sing Cristiana her 1st birthday song and they brought her a little cup of ice cream with whip cream which mommy and daddy were very happy to eat for her (we haven't introduced much dairy to her because of her reflux). Cristiana even had her first taste of soda (completely not my doing since I don't even drink soda myself), my sister handed Cristiana her straw which had a few drops of soda still in it and can I say Cristiana gave a few HUGE smiles as she sipped up the few drops that were left in the straw. Don't get use to that missy, we're not soda drinkers!

Fun at Amelia's

On Wednesday, Cristiana and I went over to Monica and Amelia's to hang out. I didn't really get a good picture of them playing since I kept forgetting to break out the camera, but the girls seemed to have a great time together. You can really see the difference on how they interact with each other now compared to when they were a lot younger. Amelia was super cute loving and hugging on Cristiana throughout the time we were there (Cristiana was a bit confused on what was going on), and It almost seemed like the girls were playing a version of hide and go seek. Amelia walked behind the changing table and Cristiana went looking for her, it was all too cute. They're definitely growing up too fast.

Thanks Monica and Amelia, we had a great time!!!

Brrrr....It's Cold

For the past few days it's been a little on the cold side here in Orlando (at least for us Floridians). To make sure Cristiana does not get sick for her birthday, I've bundled her up every time we've left the house. Here she is in one of the winter outfits that grandma bought her. Can you tell she's a native Floridian? (it was only in the 50s)

Super Star

For Christmas, Cristiana got the Fisher Price Super Star Sing Along Stage (Thanks Dee Dee!!!) and can I say she LOVES it! She loves hitting all the instruments which then are incorporated into the song that's playing (it's really neat), she loves looking at herself in the mirror, and most of all she loves dancing to the music. Cristiana loves music and has always bounced and danced but with this Sing Along Stage she REALLY gets down! It's the cutest thing, we call it her booty bounce and sometimes she even bounces herslef in a circle.
Make sure to pause the music at the bottom of the page before you hit play on the video.

Pearly whites

I was finally able to get a picture of Cristiana's new set of teeth. She had the top 3 (yes we're a little lopsided) teeth come in one after the other pretty quickly but it's hard to get her to show them to you long enough to snap a shot. I was able to take this one while daddy played with her, that's why its a bit blurry.

Happy Birthday Ava

This past Sunday was Cristiana's BFF's birthday party. We had a great time with Ava and her family and all the mommys and babies that were there. It was a beautiful day at the Grant household and Jaime even got to enjoy watching the Dolphins play their first play off game in many years since Joe had the game on for all the daddys. It's crazy to see these little ones already turning a year old, especially Ava since Cristiana and Ava have been friends since they were weeks old. We love you Ava even though you always take our toys away!

Happy Birthday Ava

Happy New Year

After church on New Years day, we decided to spend the day just hanging out at Downtown Disney. I wanted to have lunch at Jungle Jim's which has this wonderful adult beverage "Grape Ape," but to my surprise they are no longer in business (very sad) and therefore we ended up eating at Fridays, which was fine since we had a yummy green appletini. It was nice to stroll around Downtown Disney since we hadn't done it in a while. They even have a really cool new prehistoric restaurant there, same concept as the Rainforest Cafe but with a prehistoric theme. As for our resolution, we've never really been into making one but I have decided that Cristiana as well as the family should make the resolution to try and sleep more this year. We'll see if Cristiana can keep it.

Rasta Cristiana

Cute moments

Here's Cristiana in a dress I bought a while ago and it was finally warm enough for her to wear it now that she fits in it. It's crazy to think that not too long ago she was playing with this toy on the ground and now she hates to be sitting down. This other picture is of Cristiana making a mess of herself. She likes to feed herself and she usually does a great job feeding herself with the spoon but sometimes she likes to grab some of the food off the spoon with her other hand as she puts the spoon in her mouth and this is the outcome.