Holiday Wishes

Probably not going to post anymore this week as D is sick and I have more wrapping to do...so we hope you have an amazing Holiday!

Push Prize

All throughout my pregnancy people would tell me about the infamous "Push Prize"...what is a push prize, it is a gift given to the new mom from her husband after the birth of their baby.

Now...I did not push...but I still got a prize. I was not expecting one, and I was especially surprised when I got what I got. A silver key from Tiffany's...I'd never said I wanted one out loud...but I had wanted one.

So to all you girls out there who got a push prize, YAY...and those who did not...I would ask for something big this Christmas!

The One Handed Mama...

(4:30am) So there I was...innocently having fallen asleep in my cashmere sweater...when I had to feed baby and we both woke...feed feed feed...then she falls asleep and so I decided to move her to her bassinet...
when I start putting her down she moves in discomfort...I uncoil and readjust her...and then.. BLEH...all over the sleeve of my sweater, baby milky smelly upchuck...

...quickly I go into the nursery--- clean her off...but she's fallen asleep...what do I do? ....clean off the PJ and leave her in it naturally... I put her down... and go tend to my sweater....

Fast forward to 2 hours later... baby wakes...its feeding time again... this time as I am feeding her I realize, "sweetie you reek of baby bleh"... so what do I do? Naturally while nursing I walk to the kitchen and febreeze my baby...doesn't every normal mother do this at 6:30am? ....head back to the nursery and realize you still stink...only now you smell like baby bleh trying to be covered up by febreeze...and its NOT working... so we change her into PJs which then lead us to both being VERY tired...and she immediately came into bed with me to sleep. Happily...she is still sleeping...it's now 10am.

You Ought to be in Pictures...

Our professional photos by Sheri are up in a gallery and ready to be seen by you!

Simply click here and enter the password, "ceci" all lower case.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

To learn more about Sheri's work or to book her, click here. She is an amazing talent and you will not be disappointed if you use her!!!

Visiting Hours Have Been Extended

Chechi is nearly a month old and in her first month she has had many visitors--family, friends and playmates too! Here are some shots of Ms. Chechi with her loving visitors during November.

Veronica came to visit us during her lunch break.

Tio Miguel came to visit while he was home for Thanksgiving.

Tia Ivon came and spent the afternoon with us, even brought a gift and food!

Auntie M came by with Miles to visit on a pretty and sunny Sunday afternoon.

Lauren and Dale came by for a walk to the Liberty Cafe on a lovely afternoon. Dale is 3 weeks older than Chechi.

Tia Caye came to visit with Tio Damien and Alexandre, who is 6 months old now.

J was one of the first people to come visit Chechi at the house.

Tia Ana came to visit as soon as she could when she got back from Argentina.

Lots of other Tias and friends came to see us in our first month together as a family. It has been a challenge, but worth every moment with Chechi.

...common question..."What are you calling her?" ...well, my mom calls me Chechi... so I have been calling her Ceci, which is what my friends call me... so I will be calling her Ceci and or Chechi...and there will be many more nicknames in due time, I am sure.

Thanksgiving with the Family

This was definitely a Thanksgiving of firsts... it was the first Thanksgiving that we went out as a family and got our Christmas Tree on Thanksgiving Day...and it was the first time Ceci went to get a tree. She enjoyed the field trip--especially when big cousins Olivia and Julia came over to the stroller to say hi. Here is Olivia with a sprig and her slightly uncomfortable cousin Ceci.

Later that afternoon we walked over to Mimi and Babo's house with Coco for Ceci's first Thanksgiving. Normally we eat at Grandmother's...but this year we changed it up a bit. It was a nice evening with loads of amazing food. As usual my round of seconds was for my sister-in-law's (Kathleen...Kiki) green beans, D's garlic mash, and my own corn casserole (it's Paula Deen's...but I have claimed it as my own). Kiki also made her amazing pumpkin soup this year. Delish!

Now I don't know if it was the meal...but when I fed Ceci at 9:30pm (finishing her meal at around 10pm)...she did not come-a-callin' until 4:30am!!! God Bless this child!!!

Today we went on a field trip to visit MamaKanga, a lovely woman named Amanda in the Gables who specializes in carriers. We'd been eyeing the Moby Wrap and decided to get one before Holiday madness starts...and I am considering going to Art Basel this coming week so the wrap would be most handy. We LOVE our stroller, but sometimes you need a little something more portable. Here we are on the patio modeling our newest addition to the baby gear (which consequently all her travel gear is in red). Ceci is currently napping in the Moby...something tells me she loves it.

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!

Finger in the Diaper

(something for her to read in the future)

Dear Ceci,

Wanna know how much I love you? When you were a few weeks old, I loved you so much that I would check your diaper sometimes by sticking my finger in your diaper and then smelling it to make sure you were still good to go. That's when I knew I was your mom and I would do anything for you...the day your fashionably put together mom smelled her fingers for pee or poo.

Love you,
Mama C

Professional Shots of Baby C

Sheri is an amazing phographer. You may remember pictures she took of us while I was pregnant. Well, Tuesday...she came and took pictures of Baby Ceci. She was fussy at first, but then fell asleep...and magic!

Click here to see.

Baby Ceci Anne

Once Upon a Time... at 11:57am November 6, sweet baby girl was born at South Miami Hospital. After just over 8 hours, things ended in the OR rather than delivery room...but it was worth it. Ceci was greeted by her Dad and shortly there after, her Coco (abuela) and Tia Kiki (who is also her Godmother).

I thought I would share the final sighting of me pregnant on Friday November 5. In the coming weeks as we adjust to life together more pictures will come...for now...just know we are all well. As well as new parents to a nearly 1 week old can be...we're learning and sleeping as much as we can...being patient and loving our girl so so so much.

Introducing...

Cecilia Anne was born on Saturday Nov. 6 at 11:57am at South Miami Hospital.

We are well and getting into the swing of life with eachother.

Pictures to come.

xo. C

39 and Feeling Fine

Talk about home stretch! I'm officially 39 weeks pregnant! Only 6 DAYS until my due date...now I have a gut feeling. This child is going to come right around her due date...I feel like somewhere in the Tuesday 9 - Thursday 11 range she will make her appearance in the world...we'll see. I will say, I will miss this. I have really enjoyed my pregnancy. She's been a great little resident and I know she will be just as lovely as an external resident.

For the time being she is letting people know she is tucked away inside by making alien-like movements which people see and marvel at. Some tell me I will soon forget what this feels like...but how can you? It feels like an alien inside you moving around, makiong themselves at home.

If we make it to next Wednesday...well you'll see another picture like this...if we don't...then you'll see one of me with the baby.

Time has flown...

The Nursery and Week 38

Here we are...Halloween is a few

days away...and I'm 38 weeks... 12 days away from my due date. I'm huge...but how could I not be when by doctor's calculations she should be about 8lbs tomorrow!

I'm also apparently 1cm dilated too, and things are "progressing well" ...which means that this child is so far mine in her keeping to tasks in a timely manner...she's doing her homework and will make her grand appearance when she is done.

I also wanted to show pictures of the nursery...FINALLY! It's a lot different from what I had originally planned...but I love it. I think it's a chic and sweet room for a chic and sweet baby. The majority of the artwork is mine---not my initial intent, but my mom and D out voted me on this one. There are still a few small touches, but it's basically done... and with the car seat installed...all I have to do is pack my hospital bag. I will say that although today at the Dr's visit she uttered the words, "Any day now" ...I'm hoping she means "Any time after next Wednesday" ...because I have a few more things to finish up at work and it would be very helpful...best choice would be Nov. 10 (her due date)... but who knows. It's NOT up to me. This is an appointment I can't even pencil into my infamous planner.

Week 37 Picture

I was going to be Trudy Campbell from Mad Men...who spent the majority of this season pregnant...

BUT...this was a Historical Costume Party...and how can you take advantage of the belly?

It came to me on Friday afternoon while at the museum...the globe! Better yet...put the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria on the globe! ...so I had a few ideas...

1. Paint the scene on my belly but use 3-D toy caravelas to be attached with double stick tape.

2. Paint the entire scene.

3. Get a white t-shirt and paint the entire scene on the shirt and not expose the belly.

4. Dress all in blue and put 3 caravelas on a headband

...after not finding caravelas (that were part of a set of pirate toys) ...I went with the full paint option.

This weekend we also nearly finished the nursery. THe rug is at the drycleaners...once that is ready next week we'll be DONE! We also hung the rest of our paintings...now just the office and touches in the master bedroom are left...with small small touches to the dinning room. I'm not even counting the exterior back yet...

Houston, We Have a Big Baby on the Way

Here is the final sonogram picture we'll get of the baby. She was very active in the waiting room, and the minute they out her on the screen, she was down for a nap...hand in her mouth...goodnight world. Naturally, when we left and got in the car, she was jumping off the walls again. I loaded the picture sideways so you can see the picture better. What you are looking at is her face. See the two eyes, nose...hand in mouth?

Oh my sweet little girl...is...well...not so little.
At Just over 37 weeks, with about 2.5 weeks to go...Baby CAS is already weighing

7 lbs 7 oz

Are you surprised? Look at the genetics...

Mom (5'8 avg. weight 150) + Dad (6'2 avg. weight 250) = Big Baby

So she is big and she's active...which is not the most comfortable thing for me these days... but I think its not comfortable for either one of us. The really good news is our progress on our punch list...
we're all done with classes at SMH...
the crib is built...
the bassinet is home...
the car seat is being installed today by the lovely firemen at the Coral Gables Salzedo Fire Station
...so all we have to do now is, wait.
Wait for the pain to arrive...oh yeah, and the baby ;) .

I'll post a 37 week picture in my Halloween costume in a few days.

Week 36...Progress at Home and with the Pregnancy

Greetings from the end of week 36!

As we are nearly 3 weeks away from our due date...the house and my baby bump are coming along very nicely.

Here is a look at the living room, dinning room and foyer.
There are some new pieces of furniture in our lives, and others that we re purposed. So it's all fresh and new at the new house.

In the dinning room for example we inherited my mom's dinning room table which is a genius design, an octagon so it seats 8 without taking up a lot of room.
The table is very heavy---so we went with my coveted ghost chairs in order to keep the room as light as possible due to the small size.
The next re purposing is the bench under the table in our foyer. It use to be a big ottoman, but we had it sized down and reupholstered. We're happy with the result. The rug in the foyer is new---thank you Ikea!

The final picture is lil' ole me...36 weeks. This was on Sunday after church, where we got our 4 year wedding anniversary blessing. Our anniversary is on Wednesday 20th, which is the same day I officially am 37 weeks a.k.a. full term! Very exciting week for us.

Week 35

Hard to believe its near the end of my 35th week of pregnancy! It's been a busy week...

- Crib... will be ready for pick up Saturday.

- Bookshelf... check, just needs assembly (daddy)

- Glider...being delivered on Wednesday

...so the nursery is inches away from being done.

On the home front things are progressing nicely as well. After an Ikea adventure we are almost done!

Newly upholstered pieces being delivered Wednesday...curtains almost all up...office coming together...garage sale being planned... we're rolling along...maybe that's just me because I'm so round.

Other than the house and baby...D and I had a nice weekend, started off with our friend Deblois' concert at the Barnacle Historic House in Coconut Grove, then lots of things around the house with some social gatherings sprinkled in between like our friends Ana & Katie's birthday party and the opening of the Coral Gables Museum on 10.10.10 (pretty cool).

Anyhow--here's the picture. Some have said I'm starting to "drop"...we'll see. I go to the doctor tomorrow and Birthing Class P.I

....one thing I will say, I'm starting to get a little irked with the following statement, "You're not going to make it, you'll have this baby this month"... ugh. Just because I'm big doesn't mean she's ready to make her debut. Again, we'll see what the doctor says tomorrow.

I hope you had a great week---and I hope this is another good one for you too!

Week 34

Greetings! Well, we are technically in week 35 already...but on Friday night at the Junior Orange Bowl Auction, I had a 34 week picture taken... so here it is.
The baby is doing well, and she is very actively letting me know when its time for her or for me to move. It's rather remarkable to see evidence of her rolling from one side to the other. The kicks have ended as she is far too big to jolt...but rolling and adjusting are still part of her acrobatic routine.

This Saturday I attended my last baby shower for C and myself. It was a lovely party with a few wonderful women. The theme was pink and orange giraffes and the attention paid to the smallest details was amazing. I really feel blessed and honored to have had a number of showers thrown in my honor by friends and family. Don and I know that this baby will not only be loved and cared for by the two of us, but a lot of other people as well. Our first shower, was more of a dinner party with our guy friends, which we organized. The second shower was thrown by sorority sisters Robin and Jennie...that was a fun party with my ever famous "kelly green" as an accent color (RIP Kelly green nursery). Our third shower was thrown by my friends Melissa, Katie, Lauren and Sarah ---and that was chock-full of games and friendly faces stemming from elementary school to present day friends, very fun! The fourth shower was what I called "El Shower" because my Tias and cousins were invited to this one which was thrown with much love by my friends Ivon, Ana and Heather and the final shower was this Saturday, thrown with love and detail by my sister-in-law and my mother-in-law's BFF, Ginger. Each shower was perfect, fun, and treasured.

Now that the parties are over, crunch time is here...the nursery will begin to come together over the next week or so...and furniture delivery will be a part of that. As soon as its together---I'll post pictures.

Slide Show is Up!

I am so excited to announce that our slide show of pictures is up!

Click here to view the pictures! Password: cecilia

Week 32...and another view of the house

8 weeks to go! Crazy! ...the good news is that our house is coming along. We've also been meeting a lot of the other doggie neighbors on our walks with Maggie. So we are all starting to settle in more and more. Although this is my old neighborhood, I grew up in 700 Minorca which is just one block south of our home. The other day I took Maggie on a walk around the block to show her the house. My name and that of my childhood friend Nicole is still in the cement in the sidewalk, October 1990!

As for progress on the house...window treatments have been ordered, old bedroom furniture was sold and moved out of the garage and nearly all the holes left behind by old nails have been patched. Then, today we had the new office couch delivered, 3 out of 4 walls are painted in the prettiest historic shade of blue and the nursery is coming along.
Tomorrow the hall will be painted, the kitchen will get finish being painted as will the office and the garage will continue to get organized... I say give us 3...maybe 4 more weeks and we should be as done as we can be before Baby C arrives.

I am feeling good and the reality of our due dates fast approach is sinking in since the most thoughtful and generous gifts from family and friends have started to arrive and are piling up in the living room since the nursery is not yet ready to house them.
Overall, things are good with us...cannot complain. We're busy, I'm growing and soon...I'll be able to sleep on my back again!

A Few Glimpses Into Our New House

The house is far from being ready to be seen...but here are a few spots that I don't mind sharing.

This first shot is of my beloved garden goats...Rodrigo and Roberto del Pan...they are standing on and around a mound of dirt from some work that is being done in our backyard.

The next shot is of part of the living room. It's not all done, but I LOVE this part. I am in love with my shelves...literally, I want to marry them (ha ha ha). I've always wanted a wall-o-books...and now here it is. A lovely blend of my favorite books and mementos. The space was carefully crafted in my head. The painting is not in its final place yet. I just wanted to get it off the ground so I hung it there...it needs to be lower.

The next shot is of the exterior of the house. Isn't it pretty? I love our house. I look forward to having it all set and organized so that we can have family and friends over. As soon as more of it is in place I will take pictures to share.

We have not taken a week 31 picture yet...but we will before it is done in a couple of days.

I hope you enjoy what we've done so far.

Week 30 - with Pro Prego Pics Preview!

Greetings from the new living room. I'm not going to show it to you for a few weeks...until everything is done and set...but we're in our new home.

We love it! We are definitely going to enjoy this house for years to come and Baby C will be a happy girl here too. Her older 4 legged sister Maggie is already getting use to the new house.

So...through the moving, packing, settling and pregnancy, I also had my opening night at Books and Books in Coral Gables. I am showing 18 new paintings in their gallery...all for sale, and two have actually already sold! I'll be posting those pictures on cSd Art and Illustration soon.

In the meantime...the top picture is one of me at 30 weeks in my in-laws backyard. OR you can see a preview of our beautiful pregnancy photographs taken yesterday and our photographer, the talented Sheri Mazariegos, said I didn't look pregnant at all...I surely don't feel like I don't look pregnant. Sheri has already uploaded a preview so click here to see more!!! Until next time...here's to nesting and growing.

Monogram for Baby C

We moved! ...this means that things have been very busy...it also means we have not had Internet (until today ...hoorah!). I promise to post pictures of our beautiful new home as soon as it looks beautiful and less boxy...

One night before we moved out of the house on Mendavia, I woke up at 5am and could not get back to bed. I kept thinking about Baby C's nursery and the things I wanted to do to pull it together in a chic and not too girly way...that's when I started to rethink my original design for her monogram.

I made my way downstairs at 5:45am and started working on this little project on a very large canvas. Before I knew it...it was 7am and I was tired again and basically done with the monogram. I will not show the final product until the nursery is set...but this does give you a nice preview of it.

Today marks week 30! ...as we were so busy last week, there is no "official" 29 week picture...but I feel like I've ballooned in the past week, and do have a shelf going now. Also having kicked in this past week...evidence of Baby C potentially coming out with a full head of hair. We'll see is the old wives tale is true in 10 short weeks.

In other news...Friday is the opening night of my show at Books and Books in Coral Gables. I have posted new paintings on cSd Art and Illustration. Take a look...and if you are in Miami, I hope you will stop by.