Carmen's Baptism

Carmen was baptized on September 4th at St. Peters church in Laredo, TX. Also baptized was my cousin's son, Maximilliano Mendez. Carmen wore my baptism dress and was on her best behavior the whole chruch and baptism.

In attendance were countless family members. Here are some pictures that will help us remember this joyous occasion...

Carmen - 5 months old!

My baby girl, Carmen, is 5 months old. At 5 months, she weighs a little over 16 pounds (at 4 months she was 15.5), which is about the same weight as Carmen's cousin Myca that is 3 months older (Carmen's a big girl!) At her 4 month check up, she was in the 98th % for height and 90th for weight.

She is still a very calm baby that loves just hanging out and observing the world around her. She has rolled over only a handful of times, but if put on her belly, she keeps her head very high and has signs of crawling as she tries to move her legs but can't figure out how to move her whole body with her.

She is still nursing but switches very well to the bottle while mommy is at work. I am working part time temporarily and cherishing every moment that I have with Carmen and Vince. Carmen goes to bed around 8pm and sleeps 8 hours until about 4am. That is a hundred times better than Vince, so I'm happy with it, even though it leaves me sleepy to wake up every night.

She laughs at silly faces and noises (daddy makes her laugh the loudest!). Loves her big brother Vince and is always watching him. She definitely prefers me, (who doesn't prefer mommy!), but she knows who her daddy, brother, grandparents, and extended family is... like her best friend, baby Myca. They all spend a great deal of time at grandma's hanging out.

What else... Carmen is a pacifier addict. She has one attached to her at all times. She makes shy faces when she sees someone new. She is a poor napper, but makes up for it at night. She has tried a few baby foods but still has the reaction of spitting it out so she's not ready yet for food, but will be soon!

We love our baby girl and glad she is part of our family with big brother Vince. Here are some recent pics of us!

Vince bounces on his ball while Carmen bounces in the entertainment center...

we almost got Carmen in the pic, she tends to eat whatever is under her during tummy time..

David loves doing this to the kids. But shows off for the camera doing double duty!

and finally, one with mommy!!! next time I'll wear makeup!

Cancun

In July (2011) we took a big week long family vacation to Cancun, Mexico for my cousin's wedding. My whole family went, including sisters & their families, as well as several extended family members. It was a great trip and we stayed at the Cancun Palace, a wonderful all inclusive resort.

View from our room... where we had room service breakfast on the patio almost every morning we were there... Vince got the hang of room service... he would tell us to call the man to bring us food!!

Baby Carmen was a little over 3.5 months old for this trip. She was a trooper and hung out at the pool with us...

(i'm pretty sure we spiked her hair on purpose :)

But her and big brother Vince took their share of naps by the pool!! In the picture below, Vince is asleep with David, Carmen next to them is also asleep, as is my niece Myca in the pink!

We did a fair share of hanging out at the pool... well, at the pool bar...

We did, however, do an excursion to the Mayan ruins in Tulum.

Vince came along but Carmen stayed back at the hotel with Grandma & Grandpa. Vince loved the iguanas, or Anacondas as he called them. He's very into Diego right now, so he was in to the jungle scene.

more pics of the ruins...

it was on a beautiful cliff that overlooked a beach..

Vince and his favorite cousins there...

Vince, aka "Chente!"

The actual wedding and rehearsal dinners were wonderful as well. Unfortunately it rained on the wedding day so it had to be moved indoors.. but that didn't stop the fireworks at the wedding!!!

More pics from the rehearsal/welcome dinner that was on a terrace...

Love how Carmen and Myca are looking at each other!

And some more misc pics...

At the pool bar...

Us at the wedding ceremony..

Selena and I parasailing in a bench with no seatbelt! She kept telling me that if we fell, the impact would kill us. Talk about a relaxing adventure!

and last but not least, Carmen with her Tia and Tio...

Very fun vacation. When we got home, we were ready to go right back. Until next year... Punta Cana??

Cancun/July 2011 - family pictures

As part of our recent Cancun vacation, every room had $1500 worth in credits that you could use on tours, the spa, golf, beach dinners, & pictures! So we got a lot of family pictures done... within our own little family of 4 and our bigger family of 13!!! Here are some of our favorites!

Our handsome son and beautiful daughter... Oh boy are we are blessed!

Some of us together...
And all 13 of us! Our family keeps growing!

One with just the ladies... big and small

and the 5 grandkids..

with their grandparents.. (I was making funny faces at Vince so he could smile, & he was making them back! Carmen is falling asleep here)

and my parents with their favorite (or loudest) grandchild!

Within our own small family we tried for beach pictures.... it was way to bright and hot that only David and I were able to get a few in... with squinted eyes...

as you can see, we tried to get the kids in some which didn't work at all!!!

Carmen was so hot and fell asleep and Vince couldn't keep his eyes open so someone gave him some big sunglasses!! That is when we took the party inside for pics! At least we tried!

4th of July

For the 4th, we mainly stayed in and packed for our upcoming trip for Cancun... in the evening, we did take the kids to watch fireworks. Vince got bored after 5 minutes and Carmen slept through them... but David and I enjoyed them.


Back at the house we did our own fireworks and sparklers! David's a big kid and loves showing Vince different (harmless) fireworks at home. We did one train/firework that we thought was no big deal and it was very very loud! I wanted to run inside as I thought we were waking up the neighborhood!