Nothing says allegiance like a soccer onesie. Baby K has had two so far--the first one is by Torcida Baby, and we got it in Brazil last year when we took a final 'vacations will never be this easy again' vacation to Rio de Janeiro. We friggin loved Rio, especially the absolutely gorgeous Confeitaria Colombo. Mmmmm. I was seven months pregnant but I'm sure if I went back today I'd still down three desserts in one sitting.

Baby K's padrino, who lives in H-town, gave her a Houston Dynamo onesie too. If you've never been to a Houston Dynamo game, NOTHING is more Latino and American than a Houston Dynamo game. You've got the misfit section of el Batallon, shooting off fireworks in the stands and shenanigizing. You've got the well-behaved suburban soccer moms, dads and kids. And then there's everything in-between. By many accounts, Houston is what America will look like in the future. And it is fabulous because of it.

While in Miami baby K's madrina, baby K and I made a pit stop at Guayabera World inside Dolphin Mall. I've been meaning to get the little monkey a guayabera but with the sweltering heat all week long it didn't even cross my mind to go outdoors unless I was running across the law to the pool or bearing down and taking the heat on my way to Sedano's to get yet another cortadito fix (you will soon see on this blog, it is coffee/espresso, not blood, that runs through my veins and I would be safe in Bon Temps).

It finally re-entered my brain on Sunday, our last day in town, and on that day nearly all the stand-alone storefront guayabera stores were closed. But the mall never let's a woman needing to shop down. I was stoked to find a pretty good selection. I got the monkey a halter dress and her madrina bought her the most adorable guayabera jumper (will upload pic later when she actually wears it), which she will probably outgrow in two weeks since she's at like the 97 percentile for her length, and still growing fast.

Both outfits were around thirty bucks, which is more than I usually care to pay for clothes she'll outgrow quickly, but this was soooo worth it. I got an authentic Cuban guayabera in Miami--and who am I to judge that the tag says Made in China, right? It's linen. Perez Prado goes off in my head. Good enough.

I asked the lady cashier at the store--she was definitely authentic Cuban--si tenian una tienda online, and she said gave me a long, blank stare and said mmmm, nooooo. But this other place here sells children's guayabera outfits. I can't vouch for the quality but if anyone else has bought a nice baby guayabera outfit do share where you got it from. This is one product that seems to be kinda hard to find online.

So baby K turned one this month and that meant not one, not two, but THREE birthday celebrations. One here at home in the district, one over Skype because I was away for work ALL the way across the country on her actual birthday (yes, you can feel sorry for me, because I woke up that morning wanting to cry being so far from my baby), and one big pachanga con familia in Miami.

I liked the Miami party the best because in Miami, we get to use our Miami Sabado Gigante voices. The baby K speaks gently when she babbles her Wall-E-sounding speak, and her family there says if she moved to Miami that would change. Ever been to Sedano's grocery store and stood in line waiting for a cortadito? E-zato! Now I'm not knocking those Miami grocery stores. I actually can't get enough of them, it's like Latino-infused crack for me since I'm away from all that here in DC. Plus, they all seem to carry (along with Target and other retail stores) what I think was the best birthday gift the baby K got. A Baby Abuelita Doll!

So baby K's abuela sent her the Baby Andrea for her actual birthday. Baby Andrea isn't as cute as a Cabbage Patch doll or anything, but baby K looooves her, adores her and dances to the nursery songs she sings so sweetly when she presses her hand. And just for the record, baby K does not like every muneco she has. She has a love/hate relationship with her Monchichi.

But Baby Andrea sings five different Spanish nursery rhymes: El patio de mi casa; Tengo una muneca; A la rueda rueda; Amambrocha; and Duermete Mi Nina. All of which, to be fully honest, I didn't know myself. Okay, well I knew the numbers part of Tengo una muneca:

Tengo una muñeca vestida de azul/ con zapatos blancos/ y un velo de tul/ dos y dos con cuatro, cuatro y dos son seis/ Seis y dos son ocho y ocho dieciséis

I knew that numbers part, I will sadly admit, from the my dancing days in the late '90s, from the song Esta Pegao. That's the equivalent of people who don't realize most of the catchy parts of Kanye's songs are ripped. Shameful.

Still, K's grandmothers know the songs so they must've just skipped a generation. I will forgive them for not teaching to me or baby K's papa these songs to pass on to posterity. Now they're back and baby K will know them too!

We just got back home from Miami and of course, I had to raid a grocery store before I left to buy two more of the Abuelita dolls. I got the Abuelito Pancho (see above, festejando), whose voice is a wee bit too viejito in church for me. His voice isn't anything like the baby K's real abuelito, even if his clothes are.

The Abuelita Rosa is absolutely cute in her vata I almost expect talco to powder out from it. But she's still in the box and is gonna call our basement home until Christmas.

Hey, gotta stock up on the finds when you find them.

And so this is where the whining that "there isn't anywhere where I can find our things, wah, wah, wah" ends, and the build-a-blog begins. Ya era tiempo. First, the baby K just turned one this month and I can't imagine having been able to do a blog over the past year. Between working full-time and actually living, this would have sputtered out long ago, I'm sure. But I feel the momentum now and we've had a year to pick up lots of great finds that I'll share, and add new ones as I come across them--which hopefully is very, very often. I'd be thrilled to hear from others about their great finds and would be happy to post them, or you can do it yourself in the comments section.