LOTS of catching up to do!

So, lot's of things have happened since we last blogged. One of the biggest pieces of news is that our house sold!! We close on the 25th of this month, PRAISE GOD! The packers come in two weeks and then we will be more officially living in Viera, a little bit north of Melbourne. It will be really nice because since Paul started working, I had been in Orlando with Sebastian and Paul had been commuting every few days....it was tough!

I am hoping to catch up on a lot of things after a lot of busyness, especially at work. I am going to be "off" work until after Labor Day and then they are going to let me work virtually on a project basis which is really exciting!

Here are pictures from Sebastian's birthday all the way up to date.

One of Sebastian's favorite birthday presents was this music table that has gears that spin. He LOVES it. You just can't resist the big laughs.

Sebastian and daddy having silly time before bed

Sebastian and Angelica (now known as "Anca") riding together to the park.

Lots of birthday parties during the summer. Sebastian was not that interested in his presents at his birthday, but was all over his buddy Finn's presents. He wore his Elmo shirt to the birthday because Finn loves Elmos. =)

Sebastian with 3 out of 4 Stafstrom kids...quite a feat!

Daniel and Emily's Wedding weekend

The first time Sebastian tried on his tux for Tio and Tia Emily's wedding...Uh oh... We knew it was NOT going to be pretty...


He thinks it's silly to put the spaghetti strainer on his head and pretend it's a hat.

Trial run #2 with the ring bearer outfit for the wedding. This time we tried short sleeves instead of long. As you can see, it didn't seem to help any. I think this was the beginning of the tantrums.

The day before the wedding. Mami, please don't make me wear this!!!



The Silva family guys at my brother's rehearsal dinner at Dixie Crossroads.




Sebastian practiced walking down the aisle several times at the rehearsal and he did GREAT! We had the plan that mommy was going to be in the front coaxing him, and Monica would put him down in the back. Well, when the time came, he just stood there and started crying, so Cristina had to go back and pick him up. As she walked down with him he waved to his adoring fans and the entire church laughed. He is such a ham!



Proud Abuela and Tia at the church.





The Newlyweds!


Post reception party!

Too much excitement for one day...

Yay, new family members visiting! I love this picture of me and my Sebastian.

Tia Elsa's 80th Birthday!


These are my coworkers at Scholastic Book Fairs. They are so awesome!

Happy Father's Day!! Matching outfits this year again. I think it will be a tradition.

We went to the fountain park at Avalon one day with the playgroup to let the boys try out the waterworks. Well a few of his buddies were all about it and loved playing in the water. Sebastian was a bit more hesitant. He would crouch near the jet and slowly inch his fingers near the stream of water. So at one point he had gotten brave and was standing right next to the stream of water when all of the sudden it started to get bigger. He panicked and walked straight into the jet of water and got it full on in the face. Meanwhile, Mami is ever diligently trying to capture it all on camera, but I had to stop to sweep in and rescue him. He was not very happy and he decided not to mess with the fountain for the rest of the day. It was pretty funny.

My brother and Emily's first dinner party at their new apartment! Cheers!

Let's give it 15 or so more years, then maybe you can reach the wheel.

Trip to Atlanta!

We braved a roadtrip to Altanta this summer so that Cristina could participate in the LifeTeen Steubenville Conference and also so Primo Hernan that was visiting from Colombia could see some of the sights. The 6 hour trip took more like 8, but Sebastian was a trooper and did very well considering. It certainly won't be the last of our roadtrips!

Visiting Stone Mountain. It had been years since I've visited and it has changed a lot, but still great memories.

Woo-hoo! On the mountain!

He loved it!

Enjoying the view.

Checking out the textures...


We sat out on the lawn for the incredible laser light show. Sebastian was mesmerized!

At CNN World Headquarters.

We also visited the World of Coca-Cola in Atlanta. This is a super fun museum/attraction. The biggest highlight is at the end where they have a soda station for each continent with the types of soda that are popular in those countries. You can go around and sample them all. Sebastian thought this room was great. He was running all over the place with his empty cup and enjoying himself.

Can I have some Coca-Cola please??

Waiting in line to watch the 3D movie.

The teens from St. Max at the Steubenville Conference.

Daddy trying to take our picture at the Atlanta Zoo while mommy was at the youth conference (see the Giraffes in the background?)

I'm not going to look!

Alright, Dad, I'm standing with the sheep, now take the picture and get me away from here.

This goat is bigger than I am!






Wearing Mami's sunglasses - a favorite accessory much to Daddy's chagrin.

4th of July



We went out to Avalon Park to watch fireworks with Mama, Daniel and Emily. It was a fantanstic show. We didn't quite know how Sebastian would react, but he ended up loving it! At first he gripped on pretty tight, but by the end of the 30 minute show he was clapping and doing the sign for lights up in the sky.

Afterwards we walked to Titi and Anca's house where Sebastian spent a while making phone calls. He loves phones.

Sleeping like a king in the middle of his parent's bed.

Camping and St. Pete beach

We arrived at the campsite and Sebastian was soooo happy to see his cousin. He was laughing and playing with her non-stop.

Sebastian and Abuelita.

Lovin' this camping thing!!!

After a while he had gotten so dirty and sweaty that we just took his clothes off. It was very cute because he had on his Cars (the movie) themed shoes that look like little cars. Here he is loving the process of inflating Tio and Titi's kayak.

They had a ball playing in it.

He did not want to get out!

Later on we went to the beach. Although he had been to the beach before, this was really the first time that he walked and was exploring it on his own. He did great and we had a good time.


Checking out the sand....he is not such a fan of sand, but hopefully it will grow on him.


Naples Trip

Paul was super Daddy for an entire week while I had an event for work in Naples. It was wonderful they were able to go with me so I could at least duck in a few times and say hello and nurse Sebastian, but they were very long days! Daddy and Sebastian did a lot of bonding that week.

Having room service at the Ritz Carlton in Naples. Wow!!!

With a giant Clifford!

Daddy and Sebastian attempted to go the beach while we were in Naples. As I put Sebastian in the sand he screamed, so I picked up my 2 beach bags, cooler and Sebastian and just headed back to the pool where I knew he would be happy.



Taking a lunch break.

Yay! Mommy is done working and can play at the pool now!

The nice little surprise we found when we got home from Naple's and our roof was being replaced. It sure added to the headache of finalizing the contract on the house, but the roofing company repaired the crack and will be repainting our entire ceiling this week.

First Haircut

We went to Big League because they have big TVs that we hoped would mesmorize Sebastian. The TVs helped, but he was so good anyways!

I'm going to be a big boy now!


First haircut!




For being such a good boy, Sebastian got to pick out a balloon (also now known as 'Bobs' for Bomba). Anytime we set foot in a grocery store he starts screaming Bobs because he knows they have balloons there. Publix is a favorite as you can imagine because they give out free balloons!

Being silly at dinner.

He is so enthralled playing with his cousin 'Anca' (Angelica). Also a good view of his big boy haircut!

Trip to Disney's Yacht Club

Tired boy doesn't want to get up, but wants to see his new favorite show, Barney, who he calls 'Co' (no idea where that came from).


At the mall with Mami

On a weekday trip to the mall I took him to the section with all the kid rides. Luckily no kids were riding so I don't think Sebastian ever knew that they actually move. Lucky me - let's see how long that can last! He loves his "wa-wa" (bus in Spanish) so DRIVING the bus was like an over the top experience for him. He did not want to get out.

The race car was a close second favorite.

Other cute notes to ponder

Since his birthday Sebastian does so many things! Since I don't keep a baby book, just this blog, I felt terrible that I hadn't updated it in so long and I want to try to capture as much as I can about this fun stage he is in. Seriously, he is the funniest kid ever. He is so expressive and makes the funniest faces for everything. So below is a laundry list of some of the stories and milestones that he has hit in the last few months.

First words!

-Began to say and understand Mama and Dada. Also says Abu, Titi, Anca, Ongo (Bongo), Nana, Papa, and Cor (Uncle Corey).

-First word was carro or car. He uses both the Spanish and English of this word interchangeably.

-Also says wa-wa (bus), cracker, tractor, agua, dodo (this means toys), nononono (or otherwise, NO!), pups (Puffs, his overpriced Gerber cereal snacks), Bobs (bomba/balloon), up, hot, hi

His Baby Signs

Signing has been an amazing help for us with Sebastian. He can really tell us what he needs and when. This can be a blessing and a curse as you can imagine! Either way we believe it has helped us a lot and he is still speaking and using words very well too.

He signs: Hello/Bye Bye, book, all done, more, airplane, water, help, change (diaper), bath, sleep, milk, eat, light, fan, moon, fish, please, thank you, up.

He loves to read his sign language books and just this week Paul and I found him reading it on the floor and as he looked at the babies signing in the book, he was doing the signs they shows. We were flabergasted and amazing. He has really caught on to this and it seems like all our hard work and persistance with it has paid off.

Fun tricks

-He can point to the following body parts in both English and Spanish now. Bilingual baby!!! His nose, ears, eyes, mouth, hair, belly, hands, feet.

-You say "relax" and he throws his hands up behind his head to relax.

-He can oink like a pig and growl like a tiger.

-He does the hokey pokey - this is soooo funny!

-He loves to dance when you turn on music.

-He plays ring around the rosie.

-Loves to climb up and down stairs.

-Learning to climb on furniture - uh, oh....

-Will bring you things if you ask for them (sometimes) like his shoes, book, ball, cup.

-Will bring you a book that he wants you to read and will sit in your lap to hear you read it.

-Fake laughs if everyone else is laughing.

As you can see, he is just so much fun and so much work right now, but we are loving every second of it. This new adventure is going to be interesting for all of us!

I hope you continue to check the blog as I PROMISE this time that I will provide more updates especially since we will be farther away from home in the coming months and years.