The Anatomy of a Yawn

Dagny has a such a tiny, sweet baby mouth but, boy oh boy can she open that mouth wide when she yawns.  It is so cute! And she sometimes lets out this little baby holler at the end of the yawn that just makes it even more adorable.  I, being the paparazzi mother that I am, captured some shots of Dags and her precious yawn.. Enjoy!

 

She was just propped up and is getting ready for the big event!

This is her pre-yawn silly face :)

And now begins---THE DAGNY YAWN
First, she eases into her yawn, nice and easy..........

Then, she quickly picks up momentum!

 Now, Dagny is reaching the pinnacle of her yawn! (see how her right eye gets a little squinty?)

Following this pinnacle, comes a short recoil period where she gathers herself to return to status quo.

This is also where she lets out her oh-so-sweet baby sound.  Makes my heart happy!

 Next comes the post-yawn silly face :)

...............AND

 She's back to entertaining her audience, whoever they may be!

My apologies

I know, it has been a week since my last post.  No excuse really, just busy with things.  But I have more pictures to share!

This was taken late at nite, hence the red eyes of mine.  Dagny was wide awake but I like this picture because it not only shows her sweet little face, but it shows how blue her eyes are!  Some people say they are still going to change colors and others think they are going to stay that color! I'm excited to see how they turn out :)

 

This week was my brothers birthday! RayValenz, the most handsome man in sideshow, turned 26.  We had a small bday dinner at my house. Dagny was awake and got to hang out with Ray, Car, Mir, and Jon.   

Miranda was a natural with Dagny!! She held her and even fed her! Good job Miri Baby! You will be babysitting for me in NO TIME!! :)

Here was the cake, and Raymond being excited about it!  :)

Ray, Carlina, Dags

and now, just some pics from one of my many photo sessions with sweet Dagny.  She is just too darn cute, I can't even stand it!

I love this baby girl so much and Greg and I are so thankful to have her.  LOVE YOU BABY D!!

Thanks for reading my blog guys, I will try to do a better job at keeping it updated more than once a week :)

 

Family Dinner Night!!!!

Every month for the past couple of years, we, the Knoells, have tried to get together with each other for a family dinner night.  This usually includes Tina and Eddie, Andrew, Mathew and Emily, Me and Greg.  Now it includes sweet little Dagny and last night was the second family dinner that she has been to!  Last night was special though because we were celebrating her Uncle Mateo's 30th birthday!!!!  Of course she was on her best behavior (as always) and looked super cute. 

 Dagny was distracted by all the pizza!

YAY!!! Happy 30th Birthday Mathew!

Now hurry up and give Dagny a cousin!! :)

Opa was super happy to see little Dags. She was wide awake, laughing at his silly faces and couldn't take her eyes off of all that white hair! :)

All in all, another fun family dinner night and I think we are all happy that we have added another member to the monthly tradition.........Mathew, if you ever forget to get a seat for Dagny again, I will revoke your visitation rights!  jk :)

 The happy Grandparents with their sweet Grandgirl, Dagny <3

Sweet Dagny

 No matter what kind of mood I am in, Dagny makes me smile.  She makes me forget my worries and focus on how amazing it is that she even exists.  I think of all of the people that make up this one life, and how I get to take care of her and love her and help her grow.  She is beautiful, I could not have imagined her any other way.  Some days she is a Valenzuela through and through, others, she looks EXACTLY like Greg.  It truly is a miracle to see her and how she changes every day.

Happy Birthday Tati

Today is my Tatas's birthday, he would have been 82!  Look at how great Tati looked for his 80th birthday bash!  He wore that "HAPPY 80th" sash with pride!  I remember how tired he looked before everybody got there, and how my heart sunk to see him there so tired and frail.  But then the party started and Tata, as always, perked up and was his charming self with everybody who was there to celebrate with him.  He greeted the hermanos and hermanas, chatted for a while, took pictures with people, and even gave his testimony.  I love that man.  And I miss him so much.  I wanted to share some pics from that day.....

Tata always looked sharp in his suits.  He liked to dress up and look nice.  He pretty  much set the bar and was always the best dressed. :)

That's Nana and Norma in the first pic.  The next one is not that great quality but boy did Tati have a great smile for that one! And the 3rd pic is Tati and Dad.  Tata was glad that dad was there, that he had been there for a while, helping out.  Im glad too daddy, thank you for being there for Tata and for still being here.....I love you.

Made with love by DEZ :)

Tata giving his testimony and praying before cake. 

It's hard to believe that my Tata, the man who raised me, is gone.  I remember holding his soft, pudgy hands and skipping when we would walk somewhere.  I remember him taking me out on my roller skates when he'd go on a walk in the neighborhood.  I remember that he would check my homework to make sure I didn't have any mistakes.  He would check my graded schoolwork to see what I had gotten wrong so that he could show me the correct answer.  When tata went for guitar lessons, I went with him.  Since tata had such chubby hands, his fingers couldn't reach all the guitar strings so he couldn't play very well.  That's when I started playing guitar.  I would practice with his music books and when he stopped taking lessons, I just kept on playing and learning from the books.  We sang in the spanish church group LOS UNIDOS together.  He loved music, loved to sing and he shared that with me. My tata stood with me when I didn't think anyone would be by my side.  He was strong, but he was humble.  I hope I made him proud.  I hope everyday that I make him proud. 

So many memories and its hard to get them all straight.  I love it when randomly, out of nowhere, I remember something about Tata that makes me smile.  It usually makes me cry too, just because it makes me miss him so bad.  But when you get those moments of remembering those precious times, you can't believe that you had forgotten it and you vow to yourself never to forget again.

I feel bad that Tata wasn't here to meet Dagny.  I know he would have been so happy and love her so much!  I hope that he met her in Heaven, when she was a little angel getting ready to be sent to us.  I hope that he got to spend some time with her before we ever even knew she was coming to us.  I have to believe that when I had that seizure and passed out on the middle of a freeway that he was with me, that he was the angel that guided my car safely to the median.  When I was in the hospital, in labor with Dagny, I wanted him there with me so bad.  I took a picture of him and used that as my focus when the contractions hit.  He was with me, I felt his strength, he helped me through it.  

I'm so thankful for his life and for having him in my life.  I miss him, dearly, on a daily basis.  But what can you do? Life goes on.  I will remember him and share my memories of him with Dagny.

I love you Tati, Happy Birthday!

Halloween 2011

What a great day!  Dags and I got to go see grandma Kerry and take a nice little walk with her!  We went to lunch together at the Ladybug sandwich shop and Dagny was awake and so happy to see her grandma!

Later, Dags got all dressed up and we had yet another little photoshoot.  I swear, this poor child is going to have permanent bright spot in her vision from all the cameras flashing, taking her pics!
For Dagny's first Halloween, her Oma bought her a ladybug outfit and she looked oh so cute!

I love all the silly faces Dagny makes......cracks me up!

and here is a shot of the inner workings of a ladybug costume. Those little stockings are adorable!

When Dags was ready we headed outside to pass out some candy with Oma and uncle Andrew.  At first there weren't many trick-or-treaters at all!! But we sat out there and waited and eventually they came.  We had a good time talking and playing with Dags and taking more pics of course!!

I guess Dagny is too young to be scared by this crazy clown mask.  She was like--WUTEVS!  lol

I got that ladybug mask from the dollar store.  Score! So I coordinated with sweet baby D!  She, obviously, was not impressed! :)


Greg and I dressed up for a hot minute but changed real quick.  It was mostly just to see if we could pull a couple looks off from our favorite shows----MAD MEN, and BREAKING BAD.  We record every episode that AMC runs of Mad Men and we just finished the 3rd season of Breaking Bad and are jonesin to watch season 4!  Anyways, Greg was Walter White as Heisenberg and I was in Mad Men inspired attire.  I guess I could work in the office, in NYC, in the 60's.  That would be awesome! That means I would work with Mr Sterling and Donald Draper.....THAT would be awesome....just sayin :)

In summation, I ate way too much candy, probably got a cavity, Dagny looked super cute, Oma said the work "wicked" alot, Andrew scared some kids with his creepy clown mask and we got to spend some nice, quality time with familia.  All in all, I think Dagny's first Halloween was fun, even if she won't remember it--we have plenty of pics to prove it!