Poor Annika was sick for a week including on her birthday, however, she got to enjoy her special day opening gifts from her family and friends, eating long pasta as requested, and chocolate cake again as requested. Luckily she recovered in time for her birthday party at Monki's Place where she and her closest friends got to play and jump so much a 2 hour nap was needed after to recover.
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Getting her hair did
For Annika's birthday we had a small celebration at her school, then home to open some gifts, and finally to Annika's favorite gnocchi spot for dinner.
A couple of pics and video below!
Video link here
Tired of Annika's hair constantly getting in her face, and her giving us a hard time combing it, we decided it was time for Annika's first haircut. Julia found a place especially tailored for toddlers and their tantrums, where kids sit in little cars and watch TV while the hairdresser cuts their hair. SUCCESS!!
The Grand MiMi (Suzan) gifted Annika a rocking chair that she had personalized with Annika's name. Annika, however, wanted to take part in the creative process and was not content until she, too, had personalized her rocking chair. So the Grand MiMi helped Annika paint the back of the chair, and Annika proudly points to her artwork nearly every day.
A couple of videos...
I've been happily taking a lot of pictures of Annika lately and thought I'd share some of these random photos.
Hard to believe another year has passed and our beloved Annika is 2 years old. We celebrated her birthday with our good friends here in Bogota and Julia thew a little birthday party at Annika's jardin with the help of the staff.
Below are pics from the party at the jardin filled with laughter and a couple of tears.
The entire album can be viewed here.
Videos below...
One more video...
Wishing everyone a happy 2016 full of good health, laughter and love.
The U.S. Embassy was nice enough to host a holiday party for the kids to include a special visit from Santa. Unfortunately, Annika is still at the scared ****less phase when it comes to Santa. This day also turned into a mini photo shoot.
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Some pictures taken with my trusty 50mm lens.
We are blessed to have Marcela in our lives and taking such great care of Annika. We were honored to have been invited to her house for dinner and to meet her parents and aunt. As usual the food was delicious and Melany showed us her muscial talent playing several songs on her guitar which included our wdding's first dance "Tabaco y chanel" by Bacilos.
Leaving Marcela is going to be one of the most difficult part of our upcoming move.
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Video link here.
Let the craziness begin...
Video below.
* Note the third bottom tooth coming out
It was getting pretty close to a year since Abuelo and Abuela have seen Annika. With Julia's blessing, Annika and I flew to McAllen to visit the folks for a couple of days. Vivian and Richard were kind enough to rent a place at South Padre Island so Annika could hopefully enjoy the beach. Unfortunately Annika did not approve of how sand felt on her feet. Regardless, a good time was had and after a couple of days with the Cubans, she warmed up to them with smiles.
We will be returning to the RGV in September to further expose Annika to screaming Cubans and to give her another try at the beach. Hoping for better results.
To view the entire album click here.
We're happy to say that our peanut survived one year with us as parents...which called for celebration. We had a small party with our closest friends, the GrandMiMi, and our very own Marcela and family. Annika was spoiled with gifts and love, and we wouldn't have it any other way. Apio Verde, Mani! We love you more every day.
To view the entire album, click here.
Before her 1 year birthday, we wanted a little photoshoot to hopefully capture a great family shot. To our surprise, the days of having a cooperative child for photoshoots were long gone.
Then her desire to climb up the stairs and crawl began...
What to do but leave her be
After letting her climb up nearly a hundred steps, we thought we would give it another try. Nope. She still wanted to crawl.
In the end, she had fun doing what she wanted; crawling, playing with rocks, and more importantly, getting dirty.
Better luck next time
