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This is me inside my mother's belly at 4 months.

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During my gestational period, my mother did not fall under the Hispanic bunch that is affected by the Latino paradox. On the contrary, my mother took well care of herself while being pregnant, took her prenatal pills as needed, and had a full time job in order to be able to prepare for my arrival. Her economic stability was not the best while being pregnant of me, but thankfully she was able to pull through and give me the best she ever could.

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The World Trade Center moments after being attacked by terrorists.

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The world event that impacted me as a newborn and throughout my whole infancy, was the terrorist attack that happened at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. I was just two days old when this attack took place. I was too young at the time to comprehend what had happened. However, it impacted me indirectly through my parents. Even though they are from the valley and nowhere near New York, they were devastated by the news, and the happiness of having a newborn quickly faded. They never stopped being completely happy for my arrival, but this event was definitely a tough pill to swallow.

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By the clear look of the picture, sleeping was definitely one of my favorite hobbies! My parents tell me I was such a calm baby. I would sleep for several hours a day and rarely cried. They say my states of arousal were very regular so they basically new when I wanted attention and needed some sleep. I sure did make parenting easier for them (or so they say.)

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This is me with my father at about 4 months of age. I have always been a daddy's girl!

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A smiling picture of me rocking my summer outfit!

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This is me at about 5 or 6 months making my first steps.

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This is me at about a year. I was visiting South Padre Island for the first time, and by the looks of it, I was having the time of my life!

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I can say from experience, I had a lovely infancy! I was surrounded by people that took care of me and loved me unconditionally. With this picture I would like to demonstrate why the concept of imitation as an early learning capacity during infancy applies to me. Imitation refers to the mimicking of certain actions someone you admire makes. I was told that my father was being the family clown by dancing around the pole and making everyone laugh. When I saw his action and all the attention he received for doing so, I attempted to do the same thing expecting to get a similar response. This is the moment my parents realized I was now paying attention to their every move, and that they had to be more careful with the actions they took. I was learning!

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On January 8, 2002, President George W. Bush signed the "No Child Left Behind" Act into law. 

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The world event that most impacted me during my Infancy and Toddlerhood stage, was the signing of this act into law. Where I grew up as a child, the economy is not fantastic. Many of us are considered poor in accordance with the economic status scale. At this point in my life, my parents did not have much to offer me, so the signing of this law made them extremely happy. They always wanted for me to have a fair and good education and thanks to President George W. Bush, this opportunity was more accessible to me and others. I was not attending school at this age, but this law was going to help me in the future. Therefore, this decision really mattered to me and my parents.

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This is me at about a year and a half of age. 

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By the looks of this picture, I would say I most identify with the concept of gross-motor development during infancy and toddler-hood. Gross-motor development refers to the ability of being able to control large body movements that help us navigate through our environment. In this picture I was signaling my mother I wanted the toy that was on top of the counter. I was able to point to it while walking closer to her, demonstrating my gross-motor development as a toddler.

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In this picture I was about 3 years of age and got the chance to hold my brother for a picture together!

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In this picture I was about 5 years of age, and Santa got to carry my newborn sister Alondra! P.S. I did get the bike I asked him for Christmas Day.

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We took this picture after my younger sister's baptism. Life was being so good to us!

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This is a kindergarten picture of me and my classmate washing dishes in the toy sink. 

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This is certainly one of my favorite pictures from kindergarten. During this picture I was playing with my classmate and engaging in "sociodramatic play". In the section "Play and Children's Development" the concept of sociodramatic play refers to acting out of roles and themes in make-believe play. Therefore, I believe this perfectly applies to me, since in this picture I was washing the dishes after we supposedly cooked something for lunch. Up to this day I always see my mother wash dishes after cooking and eating, so in the picture I was pretending to be like my mother and mimicked her actions in the kitchen.

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In 2008, Barack Obama became the first African American President in the United States

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The world event that impacted my early childhood was the election of Barack Obama to presidency. He became the first African American in office. I was not directly affected by his election, but it was definitely nice to have someone represent minorities in such an important position.

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This is me at my kindergarten graduation. I was so excited for my next journey.

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This is me at my first awards ceremony as a first grader! 

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This is me and my brother during our Halloween pictures. I was a second grader at the moment and he was in kindergarten.

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This is me receiving my honor roll and perfect attendance awards in second grade. I remember always being so proud of my scholastic achievements. Up to this day, how I perform on my education matters to me. Therefore, I feel like the concept that most applies to me is that of achievement motivation. Achievement motivation refers to one's willingness to meet high standards of accomplishment and persist on difficult tasks. After feeling proud of myself and seeing my parents reaction to me succeeding in school, I became determined to continue achieving high standards throughout my whole education. Doing good in school kept me motivated and confident in myself and my capabilities.

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In 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake destroyed Haiti.

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On January 12, 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake striked Haiti killing thousands of people and destroying the nation's infrastructure. The news shocked our nation. I was not affected by this directly, but once again, my childhood was impacted by devastation. As we grow older, the more we realize that so many things happen around the world. At this point in my life, I was already becoming aware of the suffering and issues of other countries.

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This is me at my third grade awards ceremony. 

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This is me at around 10 years of age. It was a big step for me as I officially became a child of God by choice. 

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This is me at my fourth grade's awards assembly. I kept on being a honor roll student.

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This is me at my last year as an elementary student. I left my elementary school as an all A's student.

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This is me at around 12 years of age with my father. Like I said, I have always been a daddy's girl!

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This is me at the beginning of my 8th Grade year. 

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This is me at the end of my 8th grade year. This is the picture they took of me for being in the top 5 students of my middle school class. 

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Such a meaningful picture, followed by a lot of controversy.

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Before, I begin to explain why I chose this picture, I would like to say that my adolescence was most impacted by Kohlberg's idea of moral reasoning: social contract. Social contract refers to a person's understanding of differing opinions on what is right or wrong in a situation but having to follow the majority vote. This subject regarding colored people's lives is very controversial due to the publicity it gets, and sometimes not for the best reasons. I agree colored people should not be mistreated, discriminated against, or get killed just for being a minority. In the end we are all humans, and we all deserve to be treated fairly. However, sometimes colored people due trigger the consequences they get. For instance, if a white cop shoots a colored person, because he was fighting back and the cop was just trying to defend himself, social media puts all eyes on the actions of the white policeman. However, there are two sides to every story and not everything that happens is based of discrimination, but people do not see that. They become blinded by what is promoted and fail to see the truth in many cases. Now, I don't blame them since there has been many instances where colored people are killed just for racial differences; nonetheless, I wish I could make all those ignorant people see all sides of the story or any situation before making a judgement. It is very easy to follow the crowd, but not because a lot of people are saying one thing or whatever it means it is right.

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The San Francisco 49ers kneeling during the national anthem to raise awareness over the social injustices happening in the United States.

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NFL Players Protesting During the National Anthem

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NFL Players Protesting During the National Anthem

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The protests began in 2016 when Colin Kaepernick (49ers quarterback) started kneeling before games as a sign of awareness towards social injustices. In 2017, more players from other teams started following his lead and kneeled during the national anthem. The most protests came after President Donald Trump talked badly about the football players for disrespecting the country in that form. However, several football players responded by saying that they had no need to respect a country that promoted social injustices. This was such an impactful moment in my life, because these players risked their jobs in order to be able to prove an important point. Standing up for our people really makes a difference. It may not seem like it in the beginning, but real change comes from getting together and fighting for what is right. They used their fame and popularity in the right way and gave out an important message.

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This is me in 10th grade holding a snake. The snake is not mine, but I was so excited to carry it. 

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This is me on my 2nd year as a varsity tennis player. I was the number two player, and she was my partner at the time. We won first place that day!

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This is me as a Junior on my National Honor Society commencement ceremony. I was so proud of myself for this achievement. 

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These are two pictures of my friend of 10 years and I,  a couple of months apart. We were able to go to our high school prom together and had a blast!

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This is one of my last tennis tournaments during my senior year. We played in Laredo. I was the number one girl at the time. 

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One of my favorite senior pictures! The big day was just around the corner.

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This is me on my graduation day. I was ranked #5 out of a student body of 404. It was one of the happiest days of my life!

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On the year 2020 we were struck by a horrible pandemic.

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The world event that impacted my life during my emerging adulthood/ early adulthood phase was the COVID-19 pandemic. Towards the end of my senior year, the COVID-19 pandemic was declared official, and we all became home schooled. I did not experience the traditional graduation or was able to go for vacations that summer. We were all basically on lock-down. They were hard and stressful times for all of us. My mental and emotional health deteriorated a bit. I went from being free to becoming constrained in a couple or weeks with very little time to assimilate it. I was not even able to go to college on campus and missed out on such a beautiful phase of my life. This pandemic has not cleared up completely, but we at least have something close to a normal life before COVID-19. I am in way better place now, but I still miss my pre-pandemic life.

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This is the first picture I took of myself after cutting my long hair post graduation!

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This is me and my siblings on my grandmother's 69th birthday!

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This is one of the most beautiful pictures I took the night of my birthday party. I was screaming happiness all throughout! I love my parents. 

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This picture was taken on the 3rd date with who now is the love of my life!

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This is me and my boyfriend on his 24th birthday party! I loved celebrating his birthday by his side! 

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This is me and my boyfriend on thanksgiving day! I was already pregnant by now and did not know it. 

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The concept that most affected my emerging adulthood stage was "the social clock." When my family found out I was pregnant, they were not so happy about it. In their heads I was supposed to go out with my friends and have some fun, become engaged, then married, graduate from college and, finally, form a family. Nonetheless, I definitely did not follow the correct order. The expectations others had for me affected me in the beginning; however, now I understand doing things in the "wrong" order does not mean one cannot be successful. I learned to embrace life as it came and kept my goals intact.

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The excitement behind this picture was above measure! I was finally able to see a little bit of what I was creating. 

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The day my boyfriend and I found out we were having a little girl!

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The happiness in our faces says it all! We couldn't wait for our daughter's arrival.

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A beautiful moment captured on camera! The wait was almost over.

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I was just 2 weeks before my due date when my family invited me to the zoo. According to my parents, walking would put me in labor faster. 

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08/01/2021. The day was finally here. She was the most beautiful thing my eyes had ever seen! 

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Our first date after baby Kamila was born. 

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The theory that most influenced my early adulthood stage was Erikson's stages of psychosocial development: intimacy vs. isolation. Intimacy vs isolation refers to one's ability to form close relationships and gain an intimate form of love. Cohabiting with my partner was not easy in the beginning. Our relationship was all fun and rainbows before we encountered any real issues. The problem with relationships nowadays is that they give up so easily when things get tough due to the lack of communication. When I decided to join lives with my partner, we agreed on creating a bond so strong that would not be weak enough to bend when life was being tough on us. We talked, spent time together, listened to one another, and changed to make our relationship work. We are nowhere near being perfect, but we do try our best to satisfy the needs of our relationship. This is why I believe I have achieved a form of intimate love with my partner.

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Kamila's first Halloween Day! She was the most beautiful Minnie Mouse out there.

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Overall, I am forever grateful to God for the life I was given and for blessing me with such a beautiful angel! May God bless my little family always!