Pardon the deleted photos down below. I’m having some technical difficulties with my flickr sets… I’ll get in ironed out soon but may not be until after Christmas.

Hi everyone! Sorry we haven’t posted much lately. We went out of town (more on that later from Mommy) and we’ve all had colds (my first one unfortunately). I just wanted to share some important news. You know they say that babies sometimes take many tries before liking a particular food, and after several unsuccessful attempts by Mommy & Daddy, I have now finally decided that…
I do like bananas after all! Especially right from the actual fruit!!

In other news, naps are going a little better these days. Mom wanted me to tell you thanks everyone for your suggestions, encouragement, etc. It’s getting better as the novelty of standing up is wearing off a little, and I’m learning to get down by myself easily.
Now the only problem is when I drop the pacifier outside of the crib- that’s when I really get mad. Mommy says we’ll deal with that issue in a few months. I’m not quite sure what that means, but I doubt I’m going to like it!
Love you all!
Love, Gigi

If you are curious in knowing what my grammatical pet peeve is, click HERE.

And because I realize that English is sometimes a ridiculously complex language and we almost all make errors daily, here’s my most commonly made mistakes that I often knowingly make:

Me and Rena are going to the movies. (no, she’s not mean).
I’m voting for the Dodgers. (I suppose I’m actually rooting for them, but I tend to prefer vote for some weird reason).

I know, I know, and I call David a nerd!!

In order to keep myself involved in the field that I dedicated so many hours to studying, I decided to start a new blog called “Diversión escrita” where I will be posting all things related to Spanish, ie articles, teaching resources, etc.
I love being a stay-at-home mom, but I also plan to go back to teaching at some point in the future, so this will be a tool that I can use in the meantime to locate & organize anything I think relates to Spanish and the teaching of it.
It will also be a sort of platform for me to start doing more translation and possibly tutoring. If you or anyone you know needs translation, I would love to start doing more. I have really enjoyed doing the little that I have. Please visit my new blog, and/or contact me for rates.
To my former colegas and other friends who have studied or are interested in Spanish, please leave me input and email me anything you think I should post/link to!! Gracias!
www.nicolespanol.blogspot.com

I mentioned in the last post that Gigi is almost sitting up, well, she’s getting even better at it! She has been sitting with the boppy or a blanket behind her as a “just-in-case”- and last night she sat up on her own on the couch while Daddy was serenading her! Here’s the photo proof:

It’s hard to believe that Gianna is 5 months old already! She’s almost sitting up by herself these days and she really wants to crawl, although right now she’s only able to “swim” on her tummy. Here are a few recent pictures of our sweet little girl.

September was a big month for all of us! I’ve posted the rest of this month’s pictures in 2 sets: first, our California pictures, up until we left, and second, our first set of pictures in Colorado!
Also, for your entertainment, here’s a funny video of Gigi in her new toy. She has joined the ranks with the others her age who love this fun bundle of “over-stimulation,” as our friends the Avilas referred to it.

Part 1: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157602220816897/
Part 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157602214005808/

I just read a Fox News article that made me happy. We need more celebrities like this model. While I still don’t agree with girls like her flaunting themselves, it seems that at least deep down she has a good moral foundation. Maybe her reasons differ from mine (which come from the Bible), but hey, abstinence is abstinence. Hopefully our daughters will have more role models like Adriana in the future promoting abstinence within pop culture! Here is an excerpt from the article.

“…self-confessed virgin Adriana Lima seems to be among the celebs inspiring an emerging movement toward celibacy.

“Thanks to Adriana, all my friends and I are advocating chastity,” 20-year-old UCLA student Kate Jones told FOXNews.com. “We believe a lot of young girls have forgotten how to respect themselves, and it’s about time we went back to some old-fashioned values.”

The abstaining young women spend time blogging and voicing their views on various Internet sites, using the Victoria’s Secret and Maybelline model as their inspiration.

“There is definitely is an upcoming trend to wait until marriage even if it doesn’t have a religious motivation,” added a Hollywood-based psychologist. “It’s a positive way for young women to hold on to some power and independence.”

Last year, Lima confessed to men’s mag GQ that she planned to stay away from bedroom buddies until her wedding night, despite the fact that millions of men have already seen her in next to nothing.

“They have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me,” said the 26-year-old Brazilian babe.

Now that we have been in our new home for almost 2 weeks, I decided to reflect a little on the past and the future.

Top things I will miss about California:1. My family within a short drive
2. My brother being a walk down the hall away
3. Our awesome CA friends
4. The beach
5. Our church
6. Surfing
7. Trader Joe’s
8. In’n'Out
9. The weather
10. The Dodgers
11. Philly Grille
12. Golden Spoon

Top things I am excited about in Colorado:1. A new adventure!
2. Our few friends here (and David’s aunt!)
3. The mountains and the sky
4. Seasons (T-storms, fall colors, and snow!)
5. Snowboarding
6. Lack of traffic
7. Our Rec Centers
8. SuperTarget!
9. The Light Rail to downtown
10. Finding a new church
11. More space for less money!
12. Having people come visit us!!! (hint, hint!)

It’s been hard to leave California, but in the end, my home is wherever the Lord leads, and wherever my husband and baby are!

These lists were inspired by my friend Myste.

We got home from our little trip to New England on Monday night. We really loved Boston- it is a great city- we think we even liked it better than New York City! As most of you know, the reason we went there was for a Red Sox/Yankees game that David won tickets to. We finally had our standing-room tickets emailed to us the day before we left! They turned out okay though; other than sore backs and legs, the standing room area had a great view, and we really enjoyed the game.
David was amazed at how Boston is truly a baseball town. Everyone talks about the Red Sox, from the lady we shared a taxi from the airport with, to our Duck tour guide. You see people in Sox paraphernalia everywhere, whether they are going to the game or not. We were happy to have the Red Sox win the day we went to the game even. The crowd was amazing, it was like a playoff game, totally sold out with people 4-5 deep in the standing area. Everyone cheers when they should without being prompted, there are no banner boards that tell you to “Get Loud” or “Make noise,” because everyone does it at the appropriate time on their own (i.e. everytime there are 2 outs & 2 strikes, etc). We met up with our friend Jeff from HB, and ate at the Cask n’ Flagon (a Red Sox fan haven) and I had the BEST fish and chips of my life!We went on a really fun tour on Saturday morning called a Duck tour (thanks, Pete Merandi for the recommendation). It is an old WWII vehicle that goes on land, and then drives right into the water to become a boat (with very entertaining tour guides)! Between that and the Freedom trail, we saw a lot of Boston, including lots of our country’s heritage and history. The Freedom Trail we did on Sunday with David’s high school friend Katie, who lives in Boston. It is a 2.5 mile walk through town hitting all the historical landmarks like Ben Franklin’s grave, Paul Revere’s house, the Old North Church, etc. The old brick buildings and uneven roads are so cool.
My favorite part of the city (besides Fenway Park) was the North End, which is where Katie lives. It is the “little Italy” of Boston, and it is so quaint and cute with cobblestone roads and an infinite amount of Italian restaurants and pastry shops. We tried cannolis for the first time- delish! We also walked around Harvard which is beautiful, and I think we feel a little smarter just for visiting. We also had some authentic New England Clam Chowder at the much-recommended Legal Seafood- it was delicious.I hope you enjoy our pictures and I hope you all can visit this awesome city someday! Oh, and Gigi did a great job on the trip overall!
See photos (make sure to click the “i” if you are watching the slideshow so you can see the captions!): http://www.flickr.com/photos/bennettars/sets/72157602084527531/