Update

I apologize for the lack of posts lately. We have been jam-packed with activities since the end of last week. Diego is entertaining Alexia in her exersaucer right now so I have a chance to write a quick update. It is getting close to her nap time and Diego is saying "Alexia, estas lista para dormir?" (Are you ready to sleep?)
Today is a big day for the Lopez family. We are buying a house!!! This has been a very, very long process and today is finally closing day. The Lord has clearly led us to this home and we are so grateful for his guidance and comfort throughout everything. We will be in our apartment until the last week of August so we will slowly move our things over in the coming weeks. Ricardo and I have been married for almost 8 years and have always been apartment-dwellers (which we love) so this will be a huge change for us. Diego adores the house and has already picked out his room.
I will try to upload some recent pictures this evening because I know Abuelo Ricardo is dying to see the little ones!

CUTENESS

My friend Katie took a picture of Diego on Wednesday which may possibly be the cutest picture I've ever seen of him. I don't have time to write a post, but wanted to share this adorable face - hopefully it will put a smile on yours! Ella Ann is Diego's backup dancer and then they took turns and Diego danced while Ella Ann sang - so sweet!

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Alexia's baptism

The past 5 days have been simply wonderful. My mom (Grammie), Ricardo's mom (Mima), and my godmother (Brownie) all arrived on Thursday and just departed late this afternoon. The purpose of their visit was for Alexia's baptism, but we had a really special time, every day of their visit. On Friday we spent most of the day hanging out at the apartment and we took two trips to see the house that we are buying. In the evening we took them to our favorite Mexican restaurant and we had a really fun time. All 7 of us squeezed into a booth so we were quite cozy :)
On Saturday morning we went to the Botanical Gardens which was beautiful. I have been wanting to take my mom and godmother there for ages and am so glad we had the chance to all go together. Diego enjoyed running around and seeing all of the plants, flowers and sculptures.
It was terribly warm so Alexia was not thrilled and we didn't stay for too long. We picked up lunch on the way home and had a lovely time at home hanging out, talking, playing and being thoroughly entertained by the children.
Ricardo, his mom and Diego went to the grocery store around 5pm while my mom, Brownie and I stayed home to start the cooking marathon for Sunday. We prepared lunch for 16 adults and 6 children. We invited neighbors from our apartments and friends that don't go to our church over for lunch after the baptism. We had a wonderful time and Diego loved having so many friends in the apartment. Our sweet baby girl slept through most the party, but that allowed us to enjoy our company so it was fine.
Sunday was a very special day. Several friends who don't attend our church came to the baptism as well Ricardo's very oldest friend from childhood who lives in El Salvador. He was in Atlanta for a layover and we were thrilled to have him with us. Alexia wore a gorgeous dress that my godmother bought for her in Venice - she looked like a princess. My godmother also brought her diamond earrings and my mom brought her a gold necklace with a locket (the same necklace that I wore at my baptism) so she was a fancy baby! She did pretty well during the baptism, but started crying near the end of it so Pastor Paul didn't walk down the aisle to introduce her to the congregation like he usually does. It was a really touching day for us. The Presbyterian church does not believe that baptism cleanses a baby of her sin. We baptize our children as a commitment that we, as Alexia's parents vow to raise her in a Christian home and that we will follow the ways of the Lord in our parenting.

"For I have chosen him in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord." (Gen. 18:19)

I uploaded a few pictures and realized there were a lot more so at the end of the post you will see a link to view all of the pictures on a separate page.


Pastor Paul is explaining what baptism means for our family. Diego did really well being up on stage, although in this picture he was distracted by the choir members.


Paul said "Alexia Marie, I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit" in spanish and in english which was really special for our family.


This is the spread of delicacies that we had for lunch. Notice the watermelon, carved as a whale. And the ladybug with the flowers in it is our very first housewarming gift from Ricardo's mom.


Mima had a broken ankle so was on crutches and in a wheelchair all weekend. Diego took very good care of her!


We were pointing at the tadpoles - he was amazed!

Click here to see more pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=137534&l=25cc4&id=678120522

Mama! Papa!

I can hardly believe it, but Alexia is talking! OK, she's only saying two words, but they're the two most important words (right!?). She says "Mama" and "Papa." She's been saying them for over a week, but I didn't want to report on it in case it was just a fluke and she was just making noise, but she really says them with intent and it's the cutest thing ever. She usually only says "Mama" when she's upset or needs something, but will say "Papa" whenever she gets excited to see Ricardo. It is just amazing to hear those sweet sounds come from her lips.

Sweet sounds are coming from Diego's lips too. We have a daily night-time routine which includes opening prayer, signing, reading from a children's bible, repeating catechisms and closing prayer. Diego folds his hands and closes his eyes during prayer, but has never said his own prayer. Tonight he knelt down, closed his eyes and said "Padre, gracias por mi familia. Amen." (Father, thank you for my family. Amen) When he goes down for his nap he likes us to kneel down and say a prayer for him. Yesterday I put him in his crib, said a prayer and closed with "Amen." When I stood up he said "Mami, diga en nombre de Jesus, Amen." (Mami, say in Jesus' name, Amen." He already has a heart for Jesus!

We had a fun weekend and on Saturday evening we went to our prime BBQ site for a great time. We grilled salmon (for me), steak (for the carnivore) and asparagus. There were very few people there so Diego had a blast running around and having the playground to himself. Below are some pictures:

Pool Party!

Every Thursday we go to Moms & Tots playgroup at church. Christy decided to spice things up a bit this week and host it at the pool at her apartment complex. It was a blast! A friend let Diego borrow her water wings...and the pool will never be the same. I didn't have to hold on to him the whole time and I was even able to jump out of the pool a couple of times and leave him there (supervised by another friend, of course). He was a champ and kicked his legs, moved his arms and squealed with delight. We will definitely be heading to Target to buy some water wings this weekend.
Alexia also went swimming. I had never put her in the pool, but she loved it. I even dunked her under the water which startled her a little bit, but she didn't cry. She was just as happy as Diego, kicking her legs and squealing with delight.


Slowly getting into the pool all by himself...


...and he's off! Sometimes he would kick his legs and not be able to move so he would say "Mami, I'm stuck. I'm stuck."







The newest member to our playgroup, baby Keona with mommy Ruth.


He really loved this floaty boat.

He was exhausted after all that fun!

Lunch time conversations

Diego: "Mami, mami, adonde esta Jesus? Jesus adonde estas?" (Mami, where is Jesus? Jesus where are you?
Me: "Esta en el cielo." (He is in heaven)
Diego: "Esta volando!" (He's flying!)
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Diego: "Mami, adonde esta el sol? Mami, el sol se cayo" (Mami, where is the sun? Mami, the sun fell down"
Me: "Esta en el otro lado del mundo" (It's on the other side of the world)
Diego: "Se fue a su casa?" (It went to it's house?)
Me: "Esta en el otro lado del mundo" (It's on the other side of the world)
Diego: After thinking that over for at least 30 seconds, he said "Aaah, esta en el otro lado del mundo, el sol." (Aaahh, it's on the other side of the world, the sun)

What a weekend!!!

God has been so good to us and blessed with wonderful friends here in Atlanta. We had a jam-packed weekend full of social outings and we enjoyed every one of them so much. On Friday morning we took the MARTA (subway) into Mid-town to meet some friends for a picnic at Piedmont Park. Diego had a blast and barely slowed down to eat. He was so busy playing ball and frisbee and running like wild (what he does best!)
Alexia missed her morning nap, but did really well and enjoyed being outside and watching the kids play ball.
We made the trek home for nap time (they both slept for almost three hours!) and then headed straight out again for a BBQ at another friend's house. Diego and Addie love playing together and had a blast. We had a delicious meal and a really nice time just hanging out. We left the Ray's house around 9:30 (yes! we kept our poor children up LATE!) on a mission to find fireworks for Diego to see. We found a beautiful display as we were driving so we put on our flashers and pulled over to the side of the road. Diego was mesmerized. Ricardo and I have always really loved to watch fireworks together (they remind us of when we were dating and we even had fireworks at our wedding) so it was so much fun to see the amazement on Diego's face. It was well worth a very tired Saturday. We didn't get home until 10:15 and Diego was exhausted, as was his baby sister (and mommy!)
On Saturday we went to lunch at another friend's home and Diego loved it because they have a boy who is 5 and a boy who is Diego's age. The three of them ran around, threw balls, screamed and giggled a lot. Alexia wasn't quite sure what to do in the middle of all the boys. Diego ate a ton of food and even had a big slice of cake for dessert. Spencer, the oldest boy played the piano for us and Diego keeps talking about it - he loved it!
Once again, we headed home for a long nap and had to wake them both up at 5:00 to head to our next party. Diego, Alexia and I hang out with Tia Paty and Caitlin almost every week, but we've never had a meal together at either one of our homes with the dads. Diego stomps into that house as if he lives there - he loves it! We had a really nice time because Diego and Caitlin kept each other busy and us adults actually sat down and had a meal without the toddlers. They cooked us a fabulous meal and it was a special evening for us all.
Our weekend came to a close with an encouraging morning at church, a family meal at Fuddruckers and an afternoon nap for all four of us. The boys are at evening service at church right now and Alexia is catching some much needed zzzzzz's.

A fabulous picnic with the Hempell's.

Morgan is just 16-months, but did a good job at keeping up with Diego!

Our picnic spot was at the top of this slope, so the kids kept kicking the ball down...

...and the dads kept having to go retrieve the kids!

Diego and Caitlin love to sit on this chair. They sat like this and read together for almost 10 minutes (a long time in toddler minutes!)

They thought it was pretty cool that we let them have a picnic on the floor with their hummus and pita.

Milestones

I have to share some major milestones that have taken place with both the kids. Alexia has two teeth!!! Her two bottom teeth cut through a week ago and they are quickly becoming very noticeable. She has not complained about them so we are hoping her whole teething process goes as smoothly as Diego's did. I love seeing those little teeth in her mouth - she is growing up so quickly. Her other big milestone is that she is rolling over. I know, she is almost 8 months so you would think she'd be maybe even crawling by now, but nope, she has decided to take her time with the whole mobility process which I am completely fine with! Diego has been showing her how to roll over for weeks now and he was SO excited when she did it. It was special to see how proud he was of her; he squealed with excitement and clapped his hands over and over.
Diego also has reached a big milestone - going potty on the toilet! We have not started potty training, but he has started to ask to go #2 on the toilet so I think we may begin this whole process pretty soon. Today we went out to lunch after church and he said he wanted to go to the bathroom. Papi was such a trooper and jumped up and took him straight to the bathroom and Diego went right away. We bought him a milkshake to celebrate! When he goes on the toilet at home, he gets a little bit of chocolate which is a BIG treat for him.