Remembering Mamamia

On November 18th, my grandma, Mamamia passed away. It's hard to believe it's already been a week. Over the last 7 days we have cried, laughed, and celebrated her wonderful life and memories that she has left us. I'm thankful to all of my friends and family that have prayed for us and kept us in their thoughts.

The following are some stories I shared at her funeral this past Sunday, on what would have been her 87th birthday. Fortunately, Maria was able to meet Mamamia. I hope that as she grows up she can read these stories and know the beautiful spirit her great-grandma shared with us.

"Growing up, I think I experienced two versions of Mamamia. As a kid, when she would babysit us, she was the strict disciplinarian. You could only take one toy at a time from the toy room - and when you were done with it, you had to put it back exactly where you found it before grabbing another. For a kid it was tough, but for her it was the only way to keep a house full of kids that she babysat neat and tidy. For my sisters, my cousin and I there was also the issue of the notorious "flecos" - the fringe things at the end of the Persian carpet that she had in the den. Don't even dare try to touch them or mess them up! I remember if they were the slightest out of place, she would get her broom and make sure they were neat and in place. These rules though still didn't stop me from being sneaky. She had a purple ceramic cookie jar in the shape of grapes in the kitchen and if I knew that she or Papamio were in another room, I would sneak in there and carefully lift the lid - careful to not let it even tap the jar so that I could sneak a cookie - usually a yummy vanilla finger.

What I saw as "strict" as a kid, was really a reflection of how she treated her home and those she loved - with much pride. When I got married Mamamia told me that she was always dressed nicely and kept herself looking all put together for Papamio and that a woman should take pride in doing that for her husband. These days that may sound old-fashioned, but really I liked the advice (not that I always follow it!) and it was neat that she did take pride in that.

But Mamamia the disciplinarian really wasn't the woman that she was most of the time or to most of us. Growing up I mainly remember Mamamia always having a "cup-half-full" attitude, always laughing and a sneaky mischievous side that made her fun to be around. This jokester was also "amiga de saber" - she loved chisme and always enjoyed finding out the latest scoop about what was happening to whom - no matter if it was someone she knew or a celebrity.

On the softer side, Mamamia was extremely nurturing. As a kid she would show us how to bottle feed her cat's newborn kittens and she would wrap and hold them as if they were a real baby. I cherish the moments I got to spend with her in the kitchen, learning her "from scratch" recipes that I would try to convert to measurements to that I could replicate them again - my favorite dish her natilla.

She really was a social butterfly. Up until she had her first stroke, she was still invited to and attended many of her friends' social gatherings. When I'd be at her home, I was always amazed at how many times the phone would ring! It was so fun to see my Grandma, in her mid-80s receiving calls and talking like a young school girl.

And she helped us celebrate our birthdays in style. For my 13th birthday my parents rented a big van and we loaded up a bunch of my friends and headed out to my grandparents ranch in Newberry Springs, where they spent much of their free time. When we pulled up, there were balloons all over the place and a sign reading "Feliz Cumpleanos Alina!" - they knew how to make these moments special. Her home in Torrance was always open for celebrations. We celebrated our baby showers, several New Years eve parties, and I was able to celebrate my 30th b-day party there, where Greg and I happily announced to family and friends that we were engaged.

She loved to shop! I remember after Papamio died she would ask me or my sisters to take her shopping where she would love looking with me to find a new outfit. We always had fun gathering a big pile of clothes and heading to the dressing rooms to find her perfect outfit - which we always managed to do. And of course, these outings always ended with her treating me to lunch at the Red Robin.

After Papamio died, Mamamia stayed strong - both for herself and for the rest of us that were here with her. But there still always remained a deep sadness and void that you could almost see in her eyes. Despite difficult situations like that, it was her young spirit, childlike smile and laugh that would light up her eyes when she was surrounded by family and friends - and that's what kept her going.

She loved so strongly and I know that she felt that love reciprocated 100 times fold. Today on her birthday, I am glad that she is no longer in pain and that she has finally reunited with Papamio who she adored. But I cry because I will miss her presence in my life. I am proud and lucky to have had her as my grandma, my mamamia.

Gilda Eulalia Bueno

(November 22, 1922 - November 18, 2009)

Rest in Peace

As a schoolteacher in Cuba

With Papamio

On the beach with Papamio and Papi in CubaAt Mami and Papi's weddingGoofing around with me and my sistersCelebrating graduations, weddings, and new babies

With her great-granddaughter Maria

Halloween - Fun, Fun, Fun!

We kicked of Halloween by getting Boo'd! I received a call from Auntie Elisa the morning of Halloween letting us know that she had heard on the news that a little gnome delivered goodies to girls and boys in the area. Sure enough, Maria was one of the lucky ones and had a bag of treats waiting on our porch (Auntie Elisa also reported that the news story mentioned that the Nadsady home has several motion-sensored lights that frightened the little gnome when he was making the delivery!).

This was Maria's 2nd Halloween and it is so much more fun now that she understands it more! This year she was Snow White :)

Maria was pretty fearless while trick-or-treating, grabbing candy out of our next door neighbor's candy basket (the first house we hit) and enjoying everyone's decorations. Cousin Bella joined us, but she was not as big a fan of the decorations or scary music, as demonstrated by her "NO TRICK OR TREATING!" chant as we left our home to start the evening's festivities! Luckily she warmed up after about our 6th house. The rest of the night Maria and Bella spent laughing, jumping, and chasing one another from home to home. It was a lot of fun to see them enjoying each other and the trick or treating. They lasted about an hour. This was our first time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood, so it was cool to see so many kids and families out and about all night. Back at home, Maria surveyed her candy and dug into some m&ms and hershey kisses (obviously her daddy's girl!)The night before, Maria helped Daddy make the jack-o-latern and Mommy make pumpkin spice cookies. She didn't let herself get too dirty with pumpkin carving. When we'd try to put her hand in the pumpkin, she would stick it in about 3-4 inches and say "Nothing" to mean that she felt nothing (no seeds or pumpkin guts) and then take her hand out. She did enjoy mixing the seeds and guts in the bowl that Daddy filled as he cleaned the pumpkin.

A few days before, she got some training on this whole trick or treating thing at a little event at the local Y. At first she wasn't too sure of the whole concept (the first picture is her first trick-or-treating, checking out the bag), but within minutes she had it down - sticking her bag out, saying trick-or-treat. It was good training for the actual event.

We also made a couple of visits to a pumpkin patch.She had a lot of love for the red teletubby. Kid has no fear of these strange creatures.

She also loved the farm animals. I love the stare down with the calf.

We rounded up the Halloween festivities with a gathering with Cousins Aidan and Bella - Snow White, the Cowboy, and Abby Cadabby.

Here the two fairies/princesses mix something up with their wands while the handsome cowboy keeps watch.Later in the day they decorated cookies. Maria went straight in to eating the cookie without decorating it; Aidan piled on the frosting, and Bella decorated her hair with it! :)...and finally some quiet time with Stellaluna - a current fave of Maria.

M&M Moments

Here are some funny and some random moments with Maria (since this blog is now becoming her "baby book"). We'll start with the funniest that happened today....

- We were at church and there was a little boy sitting behind us. Maria kept saying (as she's been doing the past few weeks when she sees a boy), "Mommy, Boy!, Mommy Boy!" repeatedly in a loud enough voice that wasn't too distracting but enough for everyone around us to hear. Then she got face to face with the boy and says in what seemed like an even louder voice "Kiss me!". Most people in the pews around us busted up. Hilarious.

- She sometimes breaks into song about her cousins, "Cousin Aidan, Cousin Bella, Fun, Fun, Fun!"

- She'll be talking up a storm in her crib in the morning and sometimes when I walk in with her milk cup she lays down really quickly and pretends to be asleep. When I ask if Maria is sleeping she'll respond "Yes!".

- Her Spanglish consists of, "Aqui" when asked where something is and it's right there in front of her; "agua" for water, but at least if you ask her what agua is in English she'll respond "water"; and saying "Ese no fun" if something is not fun.

- She had a little bit of a diaper rash a few weeks ago so I put desitin on her and she started crying because it stung and kept saying "pow, pow". I had no idea what she was saying and she was trying to get up so I let her and she leaned over to the cabinet next her changing table and reached for the gold's bond powder for me to put it on. I've used the powder just a few times on her legs and arms when she gets itchy from playing in the grass so I was shocked that she rememberd and associated it with relieving itchiness/stinging.

- She's still my little alarm clock. I love waking up to her "Mommy, milk pleeeease!" or "Mommy, come in please!"

- She can count to 15, but often skips 7 and 8 - I have no idea why!

- She's going potty in the potty before her bath now and at least once during the day (usually before her nap). We've bought some pull-ups to start using soon.

- She loves berries, but will not eat any mushed up ones. If she sees a mushed up blueberry she'll offer it to us to eat.

- Does a lot of imaginary play with her dolls and "little people" friends. Sometimes we'll hear her say, "where are you baby?" then "I don't know, I can't see you!" until she finds them. When we play little people with her she'll hand us one of them and say "talk" to start a discussion with the little people. Don't even try to get away with changing the subject, because she will keep asking you to "talk".

- Favorite phrases right now:
...."What happened?" for any noise she hears or any reaction you may make to something going on...or when she throws one of her "Little People" off the table.
.... "I don't know" when you ask her what happened - even if she does know what happened (like she threw her little people person on purpose).
.... "See you later!" when she leaves.
.... "How are you?" when see sees you.

- She's tattled on her cousin even though her cousin did nothing wrong - last week she was eating dinner and gagged herself with her spoon. I asked her why she did it and she said "Bella does it" with a total straight face. I told her I didn't think Bella did that (and confirmed with her mommy that she doesn't). Then she did it again and I told her not to do it, and she said even louder, "Bella does it too!". I'm hoping she's not turning into a liar and is just associating Bella putting her hands in her mouth with that meaning she also puts the spoon down her throat!

- Favorite books right now include: Curious George (as she says, George is funny!), Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dr. Seuss/Cat in the Hat book on Butterflies, the Abuela Book which is a book that sings nursery rhymes in Spanish.

Boo the Phillies!

Greg and I got to go to the first NLCS game on Thursday and what a game it was! We have never been to a game with so much energy - the fans were pumped! Even with the Dodgers losing (but thankfully winning the second game today), we had a blast. It felt like we were at a concert, pretty much standing (and waving our towels) through the whole thing.

Go Dodgers!

Here's a video of when Manny was up to bat, right before he hit his homerun! Seriously this is how the fans were for most of the game. As Maria would say, "fun, fun, fun!"

Summer Leftovers

Here are some pics that fell through the cracks this summer and never made the blog! With the chilly fall weather having arrived and summer officially over, I figure I should get these final summer '09 pics up already.

So this next picture goes with the last set of pics in this post, but I added them at the end and blogger isn't letting me move it down with the others so it'll just have to stay at the beginning! The first pic is how Maria saw most of the zoo. I knew that once we took her out of her stroller there would be no getting her back in, so for the first hour or so Greg and I would lift her up to see the animals! It worked...good arm workout for us and a fun little lift for Maria! I think it's funny that in this pic it looks like Greg is using both arms and I am just using one!

Aidan brought over his fun inflatable pool; he and Maria had a blast with it, taking turns going down the slide.

Aunt Evie had a lot of fun watching the kiddies play!

These two are very mischievious with each other! We finally planted our plumerias and birds of paradise. Our little gardener enjoyed getting dirty from head to toe (literally) and did a great job helping us dig the holes.

Her first pinata at Kayla's birthday party. At first she didn't quite get the concept of hitting the pinata, but after a bit the kids started cheering her on after each hit. Each time she would take a look at the crowd, smile at them cheering her on and go back to hit it again to get more cheers. She loved being the center of attention for that brief moment! After the candy fell down she kept looking up at where it had been, trying to figure out what just happened...it's like candy falling from the sky! She was one of the last ones left collecting her stash (which then became Greg and my stash!) This summer we enjoyed many park visits and these are some of my favorites shots.

and Maria had her first visit to the lobster festival!

More birthday parties! This one was for Camryn - a pizza making party with chef hat and all! Maria created a pepperoni & pineapple pizza - a creation that was sure to keep Daddy away!

Another outing with Aidan - this time to the zoo. Maria was more into the snake than Aidan, but they both of course enjoyed the kiddy playground. Aidan showing off his jumping skills...