A Thanksgiving Trip to California!

We spent 5 days in California to visit the Gamalinda side of the family and to see Jenny, Jon and Mia for the first time! We were able to take a very rare picture of The Talusan Family (missing Alonso Nichols and Kirsten Lebo) as well as see a few Gamalindas. And, of course, we took tons and tons of pictures of the grandparents and grandkids. On Saturday, Mia had her christening, and Jorge was asked to be a godfather. We took great pictures of Mia,Jenny,Jorge and Joli as well as the four beautiful women who took the long long trip from Oregon to California just for a few days (Katie - Mia's Aunt, Laura - Mia's Grandmother, and of course, Jenny and Mia!). The godparents were Katie, Jorge, Mari and Jon's friend, Justin, at Mia's christening. Joli has a tough time sitting still these days, so she had to go outside with Uncle Jon to run the stairs for a while. One of the best pictures we took was of the two generations of grandparents (Lola's parents are in the pictures on the wall).

Joli had a tough time on the airplane ride on the way there because she wasn't quite used to being so confined, but on the way home, Joli was awesome! She had a great time with Baby MiMi and all her cousins! What a reunion! We haven't all been together for about 12 years, so this was a treat! We stayed with Liza's cousins -- Denis, Aileen, Larissa and Mark -- who Joli LOVED!

So, whadda you think ... do I look good with two kids ???

Grandpa Jorge's 50th Birthday!

This past weekend, we took a trip down to Rockaway to see the Vega family and celebrate Grandpa Jorge's (Pops) 50th birthday. When asked to comment on how it feels to be half a century old, Pops simply said, "fifty-is-exhausting." Unfortunately, Uncle Pedro didn't realize he was at Pop's birthday .. he thought he had finally made it to star-search. Joli always seems to enjoy taking pictures by herself, and never seems that pleased when it is a picture of Daddy-and her. Don't feel too bad, Jorge... she didn't exactly get happy when she found out she was sharing-the-spotlight with Mommy, either! But, that's okay, because after the party, someone had to clean up..
coming up next week -- pictures from Lola's birthday, Thanksgiving with the Gamalindas, and meeting Baby Mia Jewell! You can check out Mia Jewell's blog at www.miajewell.blogspot.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

SHE'S BIG! SHE'S TALL! SHE'S 16 MONTHS OLD!

Joli has been having a great time now that Mommy is home and through with her traveling! She's so excited that she even has crazy-hair.jpg! But, when she's not being a peanut-head.jpg (as her Daddy likes to call her), she's busy giving her best serious-face.jpg. As a busy toddler, Joli is often on the run, so this was the best-body-shot that I could get.

New stuff? Well, Joli continues to LOVE Barney! She goes absolutely crazy when it comes on TV, and she loves dancing with her Barney Sing A-Long doll! She knows how to do the whole "If You're Happy and You Know It" song, the "Itsy Bitsy Spider" song, and of course, the Barney song. She can "meow" like a cat, "growl" like a bear, and say "oh, my gosh!" She also knows how to say "please" and "thank you" as well as "sorry." She can ask for her cup, say she is hungry, and even tell you if she has to pee (which she does in her diaper, of course). She can say a few more words, too: papaya, hot, coffee, office, Joli (which she pronounces "joeeee"), fish, doggie, outside, shoes, socks, and blue. She can play hide-and-seek, "read" her book, turn off/on the TV, and eat some of her food with a spoon. She can also draw and color pretty well with a crayon.

Joli also is now at the point where she prefers to be put in her crib. A few months ago, Joli would cry and hug you if you tried to put her in her crib, but now she actually leans into it and tries to go there. She lays down quietly and just waits until she falls asleep. She also has a great time playing in her crib in the morning -- she often stays there for at least 30 minutes before asking to come out.

Happy 16 months, Joli!

PRINCESS DRESS AND CRAYONS

Here's actually a picture designed with Tita Mari in mind. It's the princess dress.JPG you bought Joli when she was just born.

Joli has a molar! You can tell by all the drool in the next picture. She is also a pro with crayons.JPG ! It's so cute how she holds them -- she holds them like a pencil and only colors with the pointy side. At her latest doctor appointment, we found out she weighs 22.7 pounds and is 30 inches long!

ALL DRESSED UP! (THIS TIME SHE'S WALKING ON HER OWN)

At last year's Halloween, Joli was carried in her Superman outfit from door to door collecting candy for her mom and dad. (I believe that blog was called, "SuperJoli!"). Well, this year, Joli is a hoppin' toddler who likes to walk the bridge.jpg. She is no longer "SuperJoli" but she is also a super duper the little duck.jpg who asked people all night to gimme some candy.jpg! (of course, she said PLEASE and THANK YOU). Hope you enjoyed the pictures the new and improved Joli costume.jpg

YOU'D BETTER SIT DOWN FOR THIS ONE....

Oh... my .... goodness...

.... screams of "ahhh!!! she's too cute!!!" were echoing throughout the house as "Pops" (Grandpa Jorge) sent us these pictures of Joli's visit to Rockaway Beach. You should probably sit down because these pics are so cute, they'll make you dizzy...

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solitude on the beach
a girl and her dog

One more... added late... good heavens... this one is ridiculously cute! Thanks to the grandparents in NY for playing with Joli Joli!

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YOUR PIC FIX....

Joli's dad, grandpa, and uncle have been busy building a rock wall.jpg for Joli to have lots of all fun and games.jpg . She also made time to play with her Uncle Paul.jpg . But, honestly, nothing beats playing a little rock and roll.jpg with my grandpa!Here's a great picture of the finished product.jpg

Fifteen Months Old!

It seems like just yesterday when Joli was as small as Tigger! Now here are her monthly face and tigger shots. Although, she's getting more and more impatient about posing with her little orange friend! Enjoy!


ps.. new word of the day is "Lolo!!!" She's now up to 54 words that she can actively say and identify! Sorry about the loading and quality of the pics. We haven't had Adobe photoshop on this computer so we can't resize as well as we used to.

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Just a close up of my 15 months face.jpg

Fall Day At the Park

Joli had a fun fall day at the park today. She went down the slide Joli slide.jpg, climbed the blocks Joli climbing.jpg, played in the leaves Fall day.jpg, and then came home and wrote all about it Joli writing.jpg. Oh what fun!

Eatin' sumthin'

Hey! Who do you think you are sneakin' some vegetables into my dinner???goodcarrots.jpg

Psych..! I actually love them!laughingtable.jpg

Some Joli updates:
-When you say, "Who is mommy's (substitute any name in here) love?" She raises her hand and says "Meee!!".
-Joli can climb up the slide and actually go down it correctly now (before, she couldn't quite figure out how to turn around at the top).
- She can point out your eyes, ears, and mouth!
-Her favorite word continues to be "NOOOO!"
-She can get her shoes when you ask her to do so.
- She says both "Gordon, NO!" and "Gordon, GO!" as well as "Gordon, nice" (that last one is really rare, unfortunately).
-Joli has learned the art of climbing -- she uses just about anything to climb out of her play area! We can no longer keep "table" type toys in there because we caught her hanging off the rim of the play yard having used the table as leverage!
- She asks for an "apple" and can eat it whole, and she can ask for a "banana"

Yay!

HANGING OUT IN THE ROCKAWAYS.. (a-lean back, a-lean back)

Joli had an amazing time with the Vega family out on Rockaway Beach this past week. My job took me to NYC this week, and I brought Joli along to hang with her family. We have some cute pics, and LOTS of cute stories (although Joli will probably be embarassed once she's old enough to read this....).

Some of the funniest moments involved, what else?, POOP. That's right. Poop. Story #1: Joli had just finished her bath and was hanging out (with no diaper) in Uncle Pedro's room. Thankfully, he was at church that night. Ita (Joli's grandmother) and I were talking about toilet training, and she said, "You know Joli's ready to be put on the toilet when she makes 'that special face.' Well, I looked over at Joli and said, "Uhm, you mean like the face she is making right now???" And, sure enough, a big old turd dropped out onto Pedro's floor.... thank god for tile flooring...

Joli then spent a few nights with the Vega fam, and I got a call in the evening that Joli had been splashing around in the tub and, you guessed it, stood up and pooped. Ita had to drain the tub and re-wash all over again!

In terms of fun stuff, Joli had a great time with their little dog, Tuffy! Finally, a dog smaller than her! They were buddies -- Joli would go and get Tuffy's bone and give it to him. She also was fascinated by Ita's fish, and she would watch the bowl and say "fishie!"

During the day (when it wasn't a torrential storm), Joli and family went to the beach and playground by their house. It's really a beautiful place to live! Joli also was busy helping her grandfather go on a fire inspection of the church. And, after a long day, she found time to cuddle with Uncle Pedro in her play pen.. yes.. in her play pen. Mind you, Pedro is like 5'11", and that playpen is tiny! But, he managed to get in there with her (and managed to get yelled at by Ita, too!).

Joli and Jorge are heading back down there in a few weeks, and Joli is counting down the days! (well, she's at least counting to 1-2-3, which is all she can do right now).

Any new words? Let's see... "fish", "dog", "banana". I think that's it.... Oh, and check out the cute pig-tails in Joli's hair! Ita did that for her! Cute!!

Later! Enjoy the photos (courtesy of Grandpa Jorge -- Pops!)

ps Happy Birthday, Grandpa Ed! See you when you and Lola get back!

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MORE NEW WORDS..

In case you are interested, here are some more new words she's learned in the past few days:

ears, bubbles, Jesus (as of today), no, ow, corn, tee hee hee (when she touches your belly), thank you, burp. She has upwards of about 40+ words that she says clearly.

SHE'S 14 MONTHS OLD!

Joli is officially 14 months old. She walks and talks and eats and is so independent. Unfortunately, she also knows how to rip off her own diaper, which led to a rather interesting encounter with ... well.. Joli's "diaperless butt" and the floor. Need I say more?

Here are her face and body pics with Tigger. It's getting harder to take her picture these days because she's more interested in seeing what's on the screen of the digital camera. So, whenever she sees it, and I try to take her picture, she screams, "Baby! Me!". And, that doesn't make for good picture-taking.

She's learned a few more words: "Mimi" for Baby Mia, "There!" for when you say, "Joli, where are your toes?", "cup", "more", wow", "mom", "dada", "Gordon", "corn", "car", "book", "Elmo", "bird" (not sure where she learned that one), and then this random babbling that she does. It's adorable. She also dances and touches her nose when you say "Stinky? Butt butt?". Joli can also throw out her own diaper and pass you an item that you ask for (such as a book or her cup).

Enjoy!

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SHE WALKS..! SHE TALKS..! SHE'S SUPER JOLI!!

That's right! Joli is a walking machine! On Tuesday, Sept 7, 2004, Joli took 3 independent steps. On Wednesday, Sept 8, 2004, Joli took THIRTY-FOUR independent steps (now that's what I call a fast learner!!). She's so amazing!

Go, Joli! Go, Joli! We love ya! We love ya!

Joli walked from the coffee table to the living room doors. Certainly, there was incentive as she has pictures of herself all over the doors. She even went over and kissed all of her own pictures! It was as if she was walking the "red carpet" and kissing all of her adoring fans! Then, yesterday, Joli walked from her play set to her car toy and then to Tita Grace's garden! They spend lots of time in there, so I'm sure that's where she was headed.

Way to go, Joli! She totally loves walking. She's slow and kind of unsteady, but I'm sure by the time I get home from work, she'll be running around.

My mom took her out to lunch today, and she said that Joli was talking to people in the restaurant. She said there were two women who were talking and laughing at the table next to them, and Joli turned and said, "Wowww... ha hah ah... uh-oh.. wowwww." She was right there with them, gossiping along!

Other cool Joli things: She kisses you without being asked. She'll turn her head towards you and just pucker up! When in her high chair, Joli holds a piece of food over her tray (as if to drop it), says "uh-oh", and then drops the food on the ground. We, of course, tell her not to, but it's just too darn cute! (Gordon is getting much fatter because of this, too).

She's also saying "Papa", "thank you", and can COUNT TO 2!! If you say, "one", she'll say "twoooo."

We love her!! We went to the New England Aquarium the other day, and Joli loooooved the penguins (and, for some reason, hated the octopus....).aquarium.jpg

FUN TIMES IN EASTON

The weather has been great here in Massachusetts, and Joli has been really busy. Jorge set up a computer for Joli, and she has already had a few clients as a partner in Flights Travel Easton. Don't worry, though -- she also finds plenty of time to hang out and eat. Unfortunately, she doens't have time to comb her hair....

Enjoy!
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BIG ROLLIN' IN MA ELMO CHAIR

Life is good when you can just hang out and chill in your most comfortable chair.

Joli has been taking a few steps lately. She walks so fast and steady in her Strawberry Shortcake shoes! Some cool words she says: "Gordon", "Quack Quack" (when she sees a rubber duck), "Moooo!" (when she sees the cow), "Wow!" and "Maaa" when she sees pictures of Baby Mia! These are the ones that are most intentional. We've certainly heard her say "Ma" and "Daa", but she doesn't exactly say them to call us. But, with the other five words, she uses them very intentionally.

We're doing well! Tita Grace has been babysitting while Lola and Lolo are visiting Jenny, Jon and Baby Mia. Joli has taken a fondness to grilled cheese on whole wheat toast, green beans, carrots and raisins, in the food category.


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Joli turned 13 months!

Joli's been having an awesome time being 13 months old. She had a great time with Tigger on August 17, and they even played on the slide together! Joli 13 mos face.JPG
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(Sorry..the pictures take a little longer to load because we don't have the program anymore that resizes them.)

We're back!

Hi, everyone! Well, we've finally gotten settled into our new lives. Jorge has started work. Liza has started work. And Joli has started at "Lola's Day Care." So, here is a catch up of some pictures of us. The first is of Joli before her birthday - she wasn't too happy about being stuck in the crib. The second is of Joli and Liza at Joli's first birthday! It was all too exciting for Joli! And, the last one is of Joli and Jorge just taken the other day.

Joli's been "talking" up a storm! Her words so far are: bear, "who's that?", "a-lo" (she says this when the phone rings, and she puts her hand to her ear), mama, dada, goo-shh (Gordon), "see", and an assortment of songs. If you start singing, "2 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed", Joli will do the actions to the song!

She's eating all solid foods now. She's not a fan of pureed foods in a jar anymore -- she spits it out. She has added some great foods to her regular diet: meatballs, corn, cheerios (still...), grapes, blueberries, mango, roast beef, turkey, steak, breads, potatoes, green beans (she loves holding and eating them), spaghetti, lots of fruits, melons, and ravioli! She pretty much eats everything (except nuts, honey, and citrus fruits).

Joli's taken 1-2 steps at a time. She stands like a pro, and she's ventured a few steps before falling down. She's getting there! She's getting tons of practice cruising around the house and doing things she did in our apartment -- like taking down all the DVDs and throwing them around the house.

Hmm... anything else? I think that's about it!
picture.jpgjoli and mom.jpgjoli and dad.jpg

JOLI IS A COUSIN!
 
Congratulations to Jenny and Jonathan! Baby Mia was born today at around 1:30pm (?) Pacific Time. Details to follow, but from what I know, Baby Mia is 9 1/2 pounds and brave Jenny gave birth without any medication. You go, girl!! Also, Jenny hung in there an additional 12 days -- Mia was supposed to be born on Joli's birthday (July 17th.. for all you non-Joli stats people). Happy Birthday, Baby Mia! Congratulations Jenny and Jon -- now try to get some sleep (ha ha ha).....

Quick Joli news: she's standing like crazy! She even stands on the bed! We've stopped timing her as she can pretty much stand for minutes at a time. Joli bug is under the weather -- she's had  high fever these past few days, but Mommy is giving lots of TLC and staying home from work to watch Sesame Street with her. Oh, she's also discovered Blues Clues, the Teletubbies, and the Wiggles. I know .. I know.. but we ran out of books to read and it was the only thing that would keep her still and drinking juice.

Alright.. no blogging for  a while.. the computer is the next thing to get packed up!

 

JOLI'S NEW STATS!
 
Joli had her last doctor's appointment with Dr. Good today. It was so sad to leave him and all the great people in his office. (we had to get a new computer, so pictures are at a stand still for a while). Her stats:  19 1/2 pounds, 29  inches. She's had 12 shots in 1 year and her iron count went up into the normal range.

We're getting ready to move, so we may be off line for a while. Stay tuned! Joli is on the verge of walking! She can walk just holding on to one hand and is super duper fast!

Her favorite activity is to sing and bounce! Joli is hilarious! She had a fun time at the Artists Institute performance where she saw lots of her neighborhood friends dancing and singing. Joli is eagerly waiting her turn to get up there!

Stay tuned!