Guess who stood up for the first time in her crib and who had their pics taken with Santa?

Three Month Anniversary of our Forever Family Day

As of today, our dear Gabriela has been with us for 3 months. Time sure flies when one is having a good time. Te amamos con todo el corazón y hasta el infinito y jamás pudiéramos imaginar nuestra familia sin ti.
I have not posted in a bit but many things have happened this past couple of weeks.
• Gabriela had a Dora themed 1 year bday. Our Gabrielita had a blast. This little girl is quite the partier, let me tell you. She loves to dance, loves music and to say hi to pretty much anyone and everyone.
• Gabi is now also really mobile. She loves to be standing up, has been taking steps when holding to me, sits really easily from a lying down position, is very very vocal. New words: más (more, which she uses when eating quite a bit), Atian (that is short for big brother Sebastián) and wau (for dog), adiu (bye bye).
• As to food, we are still trying to find something she does not like. This girl eats like a horse. She loves avocado, and is especially fond of eating pico de gallo. How cool is that!
• Gabi is still pretty much always happy and has a smile for everyone. She gets very very excited when mami gets home from work.
• When Gabi now sees a camera she sometimes now poses by putting on this really fake and hilarious huge smile. Quite funny!
• The Xmas tree was decorated last week and Gabi loves the lights. We also went to have pics taken Gabi with Seba and Santa. Gabi cried a bit but was a trooper.
• Finally my favorite part has been seeing the great bond forming between Gabi and Seba. This boy loves his sister and as a mother it makes me so proud to see.
• November is Adoption month plus it was Thanksgiving. I cannot give enough thanks for what Adoption has meant for our family. Such a simple word and yet SO HUGE!!!

I have never been as proud of Sebastian as I was today

Every Friday while I have been in maternity leave, I have taken Sebastian to school.  Today his teacher told me that yesterday all the children were told to give a prayer to thank God for whatever they chose.  Well, guess what?  I was told that Sebastian thanked God for "making" his sister.  As you can imagine, I cried when I heard that.  A lot of happy tears!!!
Carta para Seba:
Te amamos con todo el corazon y hasta el infinito lindo.  Eres el mejor hermano mayor de mundo.  Y tanto papi, mami como tu hermana tambien le damos gracias a Dios por haberte "hecho" a ti.  Un beso, mami

Gabriela turns 1

Today our dear Gabriela Mercedes Anli turned 1. We could not be more excited and proud to be able to spend this day with our litle treasure. We like you so much my baby that words are not enough to express the feeling.  We also thank God to have given me the gift of faith again.  For me, this year was one in which I finally was able to let go from so much stuff in my life and to really believe that maybe, somehow, things happen for a reason.  God works in many mysterious ways, I guess, and for me being able to hug and kiss Gabriela every day and to blow a candle for her 1st bday, makes me really believe.  Sorry for writing cryptically, but many of  you will probably understand what I mean. 
Carta para Gabriela (esta va en nuestro idioma):
Gracias Gabriela. No sabes lo felices q estamos contigo y la alegria q nos brindas cada segundo q estás con nosotros.  Como madre, no hay dicha mas grande que ver cuando los hijos de uno se ven felices, por lo que ver como Seba y tu se han integrado, me colma de felicidad.  Eres la pieza del rompecabeza que faltaba para completar nuestra familia.  Te amamos con todo nuestro corazon, y eres la hija de mi corazon.  Naciste tan dentro de mi corazon como si te hubiese tenido en mi vientre.  A veces olvido que no has estado siempre con nosotros, asi de mucho te queremos en casa mi vida, y es que asi tambien nos has hecho sentir vida mia, como que no podrias imaginar una vida fuera de nuestro hogar.  Y como siempre le he dicho a Seba, papi, mami y Seba te aman con todo el corazon y hasta el infinito, y espero que un dia cuando leas esto te agraden estas palabras, y recuerdes esos primeros meses con nosotros.
I baked a lemon cake, which Gabi loved. Gabi loved the whole blowing candles thing and the singing. We also gave her an inflatable aquarium that can be filled with balls which she loved. She got into it with Seba and it was pretty exciting to see them playing together.