We Are Anxiously Waiting!

For Vozinha and Vozinho Fofinho's arrival tomorrow!!! YAY!!!

My mother and step-father are arriving tomorrow from Portugal to spend two weeks with us and to celebrate Daniel's 1st Birthday!!! We can't believe that our boy wonder will be 1 on Tuesday, March 3rd! One year ago we were waiting for my labor to begin with so many questions to be answered, including whether he would be breech or not. Remember? You can review the blog here! It's already been a year and now we have a very big, cute, loving and an overall so precious boy wonder!

We look forward to blogging soon with photos and videos of his first birthday! These are very exciting times for our family! In fact, you can see exactly how excited we are:

In the meantime, I've been asking Daniel over and over: "Who is arriving on Saturday?" And responding with much excitment: "Vozinha e Vozinho Fofinho!!!"

We will be at the airport tomorrow waiting for you with so much joy and expectation! See you tomorrow!!!

Introducing To You: Maria

Well, for those who remember, finding long-term child care for Daniel has not been easy for us... Since Daniel was almost 5 months old, we've already tried 3 family day cares and now we are on our second nanny whose name is Maria! Ruth, who we loved, had to return to Peru to be with her two daughters who were really needing her there. Fortunately, she recommended her friend Maria, who is a lovely woman, also from Peru.

We are very happy with Maria (she's already been with us for about a month) and are hoping that she will stay for many months to come... but, we are just taking one day at a time with that and just thankful that Daniel is doing well, despite all the changes he has experienced in this area. He really likes her and it's great that he's still being exposed to Spanish.

Here is a photo of Maria with Daniel on a recent early morning - not the best picture but at least you get to see what Maria looks like.

Bahooo! Wahwooo!

Recently, Daniel has been talking a lot and making the cutest of sounds! "Bahooo, Wahwooo" is music to our ears! We love listening and watching him make these sounds - check out the video!

We are now just waiting for an official first word, which I am hoping will be "mamae" :-) - though I will be very happy if it is "papai" too!

P.S. This video also shows Daniel pulling himself up and standing!

The Sweetest Greeting

When Jonny and I both go to work, we are always excited to come home to our boy wonder in the early evenings. Recently, Daniel is always by the window when we get home and we are greeted oh so sweetly.

It is always a joyful reunion; a very special moment of the day! This afternoon, I was able to get some pictures of Daniel by the window - they are a bit obscured by the reflection of the sun, but, you can see well the sweetest greeting that we so look forward to and enjoy...

Where is Papai?

We've been having so much fun with Daniel! Having him crawl around and become more interactive has been so wonderful! Each day it gets better; we praise God for him in our lives more and more each day!

One fun game that we have enjoyed playing recently before bath time is "Where is Papai?", which when I talk to him in Portuguese is "Cadê Papai?" Here's the video of us playing!

Recent Photos of Fun Times

We've been enjoying playing at Takumi's - Daniel loves all the fun toys and the change of scene.

He's still into putting most toys in his mouth!

Isn't she so cute? That's Nina, one of Takumi's sister

(half Japanese, half Caucasian American)

Both boys clapping - what a cute smile Takumi!

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We had our dear friends over for dinner in remembrance of Jonathan David. We had a special and fun time together, in his honor. It was an interesting coincidence to realize that I was wearing the same shirt the last time Kristen visited for JD but that this time, it was a much happier occasion.

Mikey and Daniel "playing" side by side.
How I remembered JD seeing them play together - Mikey is only 2 months older that JD and so this is what the 2 brothers would have been like...


Mikey was so sweet playing with Daniel!


Holly the sweetest princess!

Best friends with our precious children!


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Finally getting to enjoy the outdoors again on a surprisingly warm February afternoon! What a cute doggy hat - used to be Mikey's!

He loved being back on the swing!




This time, he was into leaning back!

Daniel at 11 months: Climbing Stairs!

Here is a recent video of boy wonder climbing our stairs!

Silly Mamae!

I have always wished that I would be remembered as a fun mommy. Making Daniel laugh brings me such joy and I hope that he will remember me not only as fun, but also as funny! Today, Jonny captured on video how silly I can be at times and how I can make Daniel laugh. We were enjoying the surprisingly warm February weather at the park, and as he was enjoying the swing again after quite a few months, Daniel found it particularly amusing that I was wearing his doggy hat - which he inherited from Mikey, my dear friend Kristen's son. I guess it wasn't just the hat, the whole look was rather silly - check out the video below!

Amazing Changes In The 10th Month

Daniel is coming to the end of his 10th month and we have just been amazed at how, just in the past few weeks, he has developed so much! It's less than a month since we returned from Malaysia and Daniel had just started to crawl and now he can:

- Crawl very quickly (we really can't stop watching him now for a second!)

- Pulls himself up onto his feet quickly and with only one hand. His favorite activity now is to pull himself up on pretty much anything he can - including walls and doors! He absolutely loves standing up by the window and looking outside! He also loves to stand in his crib which he does immediately after waking up (this has also resulted in him fighting sleep at night and wanting to keep standing in his crib for longer!)

- He can climb our stairs by himself (with us straight behind him, of course)!

- AND.. one of the cutest things that's happened recently is that: He's now clapping!!! He loves to be sung to and will join in with claps!And what's interesting is that he claps mainly with his left hand. Is this a sign that he is left-handed?! :-) His friend Takumi, only a couple of months older, definitely claps with his right hand. We'll video him clapping soon for you all to see this interesting phenomenon!

- Another cute thing that has happened is that he has become very attached to his classic teddy given by his uncle Peter - it's definitely his "lovey" and he loves to sleep holding it!

Here are some photos of the boy wonder with his teddy and standing in his crib on a recent early morning:

To Our Beloved Son On Your Second Birthday

Dear Jonathan David, our Beloved Son,

Happy 2nd Birthday! We are thinking of you today so much, remembering the precious time we had with you exactly two years ago...

We have mixed feelings today: we are thankful that we had the privilege to meet you, to hold you, to have you as our first son, but we are also sad; missing you so much and wishing that we could be with you again. Our first prayer this morning as we woke up was "Lord Jesus, please give Jonathan David a very special hug for us. Please let him know how much we love and miss him!"

But, we are comforted by the fact that you are very well in heaven and celebrating your birthday in the most amazing way - we're sure that whatever you are doing today, our human minds cannot even conceive of its greatness! What joy it must be to be in glory! For this, you are truly blessed; you had the privilege of going straight to heaven and not having to endure this fallen world that we live in. To be face to face with Jesus, surrounded by the love and presence of our Father, perfectly healed, in perfect joy; wow, how amazing!

Until it is our time to join you, know that you are so loved and so missed. Know that as our first son, you hold a very special place in our hearts and always will.

Happy Birthday to you, our beloved son!

With all our love, now and forever,

Mamae and Papai