4 months old

Our little hand holder! We have spent the past month holding hands the whole day long. At times I´ve even had to push you down the street holding your hand- in order to avoid meltdowns! You and your hair are growing so much. I don´t even recognize the little baby from 1 month old. You have the sweetest darkest eyes (now a bit blueish/brownish) and you keep those things wide open at all times. You weigh 13.85 lbs and are 24.6 inches tall. You are finally starting to nap during the day, eating every 4 hours and sleeping 7-9 hours thru the night. You can easily hold your head up, flip from your stomach to your back and when holding on to the couch you can stand on your own. You talk up a storm, but your sweet and new little giggles are my favorite. Everything you do now is my favorite.

Rioja and it´s vinos

February might not be the most prime time for visiting the vineyards, but what a nice weekend getaway to brighten up these winter days. We spent Saturday and Sunday celebrating the 70th birthday of Ricardo´s mom with a suprise trip to Rioja in the northern part of Spain. We visited both Ysios and Marques de Riscal vineyards. Not only are they known for their wonderful Red (tinto) wine, but the architecture is out of this world- Marques de Riscal is one of Frank Gehry´s latest projects, where we also enjoyed an amazing birthday lunch with the family. Wine, Food, Scenery and Family- very nice weekend indeed.

3 Months Old

All smiles! Sweet girl is 3 months old (Jan 22nd) and happy as can be. You weigh 11 pounds, 14 ounces and are 22.6 inches tall. What a change between month 2 and 3. We're finally on a nice routine that includes sleeping 6 (sometimes 8) hours in a row at night! and then another 3 or 4!! (going to sleep to your Rock-a-bye Baby cd's has helped a ton!) You don't seem to very interested in daytime naps- there is way too much else to see. Lucky for us the nights spent by the kitchen fan have dwindled down and you now spend your evenings practicing your vowel sounds and perfecting those dimples. Your eyes are wide open at all times (still blueish/grey), very often without blinking and now that you can hold your head up straight you love to look around and see the world. You spent Christmas in Tennessee and New Years in Bilbao- our traveling little girl. You had your first cold, but stayed so happy the whole time. 3 months old suits you well sweet girl.

Nochevieja en Bilbao

We landed from the US, napped 3 hours and headed straight to Bilbao to ring in the New Year. Bless her sweet soul, she was such a trooper. We celebrated New Years nice and cozy in our PJ's, eating our 12 grapes at the strike of midnight and seeing all the crazy neighbors shooting fireworks from their apartment windows!

Lovin' those hands these days



Los Reyes came early (tradition is to leave out your shoe during the night and the 3 Kings bring your gift)



Looks like 2013 is shaping up to be a great year! We're loving it so far!!

in closing.....

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight

Nashville, Friends and Rock n' Roll

Bless this sweet girl's heart, we drug her all over the state! but no Christmas is complete without a trip to the Odom's. My photographer, Christy, captured this trip perfectly!!

Christmas in Tennessee

2 months old, both passports in hand, we venture off to the USA to meet our friends and family. Nothing like being home for Christmas and what a special one this was with sweet Carolina with us. I enjoyed every second- but boy did it fly by! We love our friends and family so much and can't wait to get back and hopefully see those of you we didn't get to see this trip (Migioias, Thorpes, Chamberlains, Hernandez and all my Pata's!!) Kellye-O, where's our annual pic to share?!

Richards cousins get together

 

Cousin Addie taking care of´the baby

a visit from Jack, Lynn and Lee (home from Mongolia), our adopted god family

w/ Mommy and Daddy (that still sounds weird...)

It's not Christmas without our annual Christmas Eve at The Bowman's- did I mention they had BBQ!! :-)
 (Carolina meeting the twins, Greer and Brynn, Gretchen and Aunt Peggy)

C and Aunt Tammy

Babaw and his Plaid babies



Addie left her note for Santa and signed Carolina's name too (love her!)



at Peace

The Richards in their Christmas PJ's

Daddy and Addie holding last year's picture (hope I can remember to keep capturing this)

Carolina in the pajamas she wore 1st day in the hospital (courtesy of Grammie and Babaw) and G in her "replacement" pj's (courtesy of Carolina)