Zoey's new BFF

Where's Ben???? this face is all Jessica.

Zoey could not kiss her enough, and like any mom, Jess was worried about the germs..... but Zoey paid no mind to her tia and kept kissing Olivia. Finally tia came and took the baby from mama since she was not protecting her from the free love zoey was so generously offering.

Olivia Hannah born June 1st, just in case you were wondering, she was born with all that hair.

at the park

Not sure what happened....

She was under the care of Karina and Joey and when i went through the pics saw this one. I can hear her say "ouww" so i'm wondering she got hit on the forehead.








Hanging on by herself. her latest phrase for everything is "I can do it, by myself"

a fun night with cousins...

Sam, Julianna, Jeremy and Zoey

Whatever Jeremy and Zoey were talking about made Julianna crack up....

Julianna teaching her BFF, Sam, the ballerina twirl

At the end of the night, Olivia joined the clan.

update

needless to say it was a crazy summer, but on a better note, we did get to see old friends this summer. We got to go to the cape and see Jill, she graciously gave me one of her mom's homemade strawberry jam. i ate it all by myself and now need a refill. jill call me. and we also got to see jessica r. she joined us as we sang happy bday to julianna. and of course all our friends and fam who live in MA. i know you'd love to see pics however they are all still in my camera. i promise to download them this week.
on a sad note.... i will be entering the workforce again. i know you feel for me. i will no longer enjoy waking up at 9am and staying in bed till 10 watching tv with the girls. i will probably start in two weeks. yes i had to give myself a two week notice. jonas will be staying at home with the girls... we'll see how long that last. i'll keep you posted

In honor of an amazing woman

As most of you know, my gma passed away on july 22nd, 11 days after she turned 95! She was a wonderful, courageous, and most of all loving woman. I miss her tremendously. Not a day passes where I don't feel the need to pick up the phone and call her just to say see how she's doing. She would have gotten a kick to hear that Zoey is a true coffee lover like herself. However, I cannot complain for the wonderful time that God allowed her to warm my heart. She truely gave herself to us; her gkids, great gkids and her daughter. She taught me to fight... she fought until the very last breath. not once did she show a sign of giving up. She taught me unity... her last words to us was her desire for the whole family to always be united. She taught me the value of family and of loving so unconditionally. She was an amazing woman that left her mark on everyone who met her. I thank God for His mercy and grace with our family. In june of this year my gma was hospitalized, at which point they told my mom she had dimentia. Since then she did not go out. I flew up in june with the girls and spent time with her. There was only one day in july where the WHOLE family was going to be together, so we went to get our family picture taken, all 18 of us. The next day my brother flew home, and the rest of us along with gma went to York Beach, ME. A family day trip like the good ol days. She had a great time. That was a saturday. The following tuesday, precisely the day jonas, the girls, and i were to fly home, she started her path towards her death. God gave us enough time to take our pictures, to have one more outing with her, and He gave me the opportunity to be with her until the very end. His mercy and His grace is endless. i could have very well been in florida when it happened, but my God takes care of all the details... the last week of her life, the whole family was again united. no one hardly left the home. The moment she took her last breath, we were in the room with her, making a joke and laughing. She was surrounded by all the love that she had deposited in us for so many years and she was hearing the sound she loved the most... our laughter. I miss her with all my heart but I take comfort in knowing she is in my Father's arms. Thank you all for your prayers during the most difficult time of my life.

Easter

this was easter sunday.

it's no longer as easy to take pictures of zoey, here she quickly smiled for the pic before getting up to continue doing whatever it was that she was doing. she is too busy playing, walking, getting into corners, climbing on the furniture to stop and say cheese

yummy kisses

zoey loves giving kisses. you pucker up and she comes rushing to you with her mouth open to give you a yummy kiss sometimes right before kissing you she will close her mouth. She seems to have gotten taller these last few days. she has extended her vocabulary, thanks to julianna, she has now added "no" and "mine" to her list. she now walks at full speed and hardly goes back to the old habit of crawling.

meet mr. fishy

putting fishy in its new home

look at mr. fishy

this only lasted two days

So i decided maybe it'd be nice to get the girls a fish. we went to our local super walmart, julianna picked out her fish. first the sales lady had to convince that the big fishes were for ponds. she wanted to hold the bag the whole time we were shopping including the ride home. in my head i was reliving the part of nemo were the little girl shakes the bag uncontrollably... yeah. thank god it did not happen. we got home she helped put fishy in his new home. and then i asked her what should we call the fish... she said fishy mami, and looked at with a "drrr what else would we call him" kinda look. So this is mr. fishy. the first two days she would go to see him and if he was too still for her amusement she would demand he swim "Swim fishy swim" in the oh so sweet but demanding tone of voice she has picked up. and knocks on the bowl and the little fish begins to swim. now a few weeks later, she no longer pays that much attention to it and now i am stuck cleaning and feeding the fish.

little toes

So for the first time in i don't know how long, i decided to paint my nails. julianna had been out with jonas and when she came home and saw my nails she said "wow mami, lindo (pretty)". and of course wanted her nails painted as well. so with papi's permission, i painted her toes.... it took her about five to ten minutes to walk after they were completely dry, and for the first few steps she walked on her heels so that her toes would not touch the floor. she then decided she no longer wanted her toes painted and asked me to take it off. now when we are in the car she paints her nails and feet with crayons, nice bright blue crayon!!! and tells me "I pinte nails" all her conversations are spanglish...

fun in the sun

we took the girls to a pool with mailli and papito, tio and tia. they had so much fun. it took them awhile to get used to the water, it was still cold. but by the end they did not want to leave.

her first haircut?????

So it was right about nap time for zoey, and i take her upstairs to lay down, i tell julianna that i will be downstairs in a minute. at first i hear her crying at the bottom of the stairs but then she quiets down. i didn't think anything of it... i was hoping to come downstairs to find her asleep. instead i come downstairs to see her sitting on the couch with adult scisors in her hand, this hair on the couch next to her and another strand of hair in her other hand ready to get chopped. i tried not to freak, just grateful that it was not worse. not sure where this strands are from i have a feeling by her hair now that it ios right from the front. so she has somewhat of bangs, but not good bangs. i now have to put a barrette at all times.

i'm not an infant anymore....

a few days after turning one, zoey decided she was old enough to feed herself. whenever i tried to feed her she would press her lips and turn her face. she finally got a hold of the spoon, after posing for a pic, she went after her oatmeal. needless to say the oatmeal ended up on her tray and she exchanged her spoon for her fingers and finished her breakfast.

fabre cousins

Zoey, Jeremy, Julianna, Samantha, Anabel, Jacob and Tiffany

say cheese

going for a ride at the outlets

Zoey is so funny..... regardless of what she is eating or what she is doing as soon as she sees that you are going to take a picture of her she says "cheese". here she took a break from her strawberries to pose for the pic

how time flies....

this is one of my absolute favorite pictures of zoey. here she was only one month and three days old. her hair was spiky black, her arms were thin. she was fragile. i am having a hard time accepting she is now one. crazy i know, especially since this is not my first. trust me i have a hard time accepting julianna's independence. maybe its the thought that this could be my last baby (still trying to convince jonas that a family of two is small) they really just grow up so fast.

Zoey turns ONE

Papito playing with a ball

The kids had a good game of baseball

Jailyn, Mailli and Julianna

Our little girl turned one.

Julianna helped Zoey blow out her candle, after all it was julianna and zoey's birthday party. (julianna thought the party was for her and zoey, and she would quickly correct anyone who mentioned zoey's birthday by saying "no happy birthday zoey, happy birthday nana")

We had a wonderful weekend. My whole family flew down for her birthday and most of jonas' family made it. We want to thank each one for making the sacrifice and effort to be here, the day would not have been the same if we did not have our families to share it with. It has really been a wonderful year watching zoey grow. It completely amazes me how much growth we do in our first year of life. to think that a year ago she could not even roll over in the bed.... and now she is this little person, who in her mind thinks she is a lot bigger and wants to be more independant as each day passes.

Standing on my own

Zoey has been standing on her own for a little while now. She does not seem very motivated to start walking. I'm still hoping that she will take her first steps by her first bday.

Here she is putting on lipstick

my turn

So julianna felt compelled to share her popsicle with zoey when she saw her crying. This of course was after zoey had eaten her own popsicle

Tea Party

ok so its really a cafe party. here is our little girl serving her baby coffee. these last couple of months she has really turned into a girly girl. She walks around the house in her high heels, she even plays the drums in them, she changes her outfit and chooses skirts over jeans. she puts on pretend lipstick. She will be well rounded, puttin on gloss with one hand while changing the oil in her car with the other