Soccer Fun

Diego LOVES to play soccer, especially with Tio Aldo. Aldo invited us to meet him at a field one afternoon last week so Diego could play on the real field. Oh wow, did he love that!

I have not had a chance to update with stories lately and I've been wanting to write about Diego's funny infatuation with...SWEAT. The boy loves to sweat and will do anything to make himself sweat. Sometimes he runs in circles around and around and around the kitchen/living room loop with the sole purpose of making himself sweaty. He will stop after every few loops and say, "Ya estoy mojado? Tengo drips?!" ("Am I wet now? Do I have drips?") Or he will play ball downstairs in the family room and jump up and down and spin around like crazy, just waiting for the sweat to break on his forehead. So of course one of the reasons he was excited to play soccer in the crazy Atlanta heat was to...break a sweat!


His soccer skills are very impressive, especially considering he has never been on a team or had any training. He can dribble that ball up and down the field, without losing control of it. We're going to put him in a soccer team in the fall and he cannot wait!







He was so anxious to feel sweat on his face that he poured water on his head and pretended it was sweat. He wanted me to take a picture so he could see the drips.


Diego's #1 fan!


Marco and I hung out in the shade. I did not get up at all, but it was so hot that I was sweating too. Alexia mostly hung out with Marco and I, but also enjoyed running to the field to play with the ball now and again. Notice how red Diego was!


Diego had a blast at sports camp every morning last week. He was so excited to prepare his snack box and get ready every morning. Alexia was not so happy about it. On Thursday she was near tears as we were driving to drop him off. She said "Queiro que Diego venga a mi casa a jugar." ( I want Diego to come to my house to play). Alexia, Marco and I did something special each morning. One morning we went to have a scone and coffee at Alon's. Another morning we went to the library. Another we invited her two friends, Paige and Elle (twin girls the same age as Alexia) to the house for a playdate. Here are the three cuties:

Our Monday

Today was Diego's first morning of Sports Camp and he LOVED it!!! He attended sports camp a few times last summer and loved it and I've been excited for the right week to come to send him again this summer. He will go from 9:00 to 12:00 every morning this week. I wasn't sure how we'd do with having to leave the house by 8:40 this morning, but suprisingly I was even able to make breakfast for Ricardo (and the kids, of course) AND have a shower before we left!
After we dropped him off, Alexia, Marco and I went to Barnes and Noble to play with the train table and look at books. I ended up buying her a little activity book for us to do together this week while Diego is out in the mornings. From there we headed over to Costco. Marco had fallen asleep right before we left at 8:40 and was still asleep when we parked at Costco at 10:20. I pulled him out of his car seat and nursed him in the van and then put him in the baby bjorn. We took awhile at Costco b/c I had so much to get and Alexia really wanted pizza so we stayed and shared a slice of pizza. By the time we left there, it was 11:30 so we rushed home to put away the perishables and then raced back to the gym to pick up Diego. Meanwhile, Marco was still sound asleep and he did not wake up until after we got home, the kids had lunch and I put Alexia down for her nap...around 1:45. He woke up to nurse and then went back to sleep again until around 4:00pm. WONDER BABY! He is awake now and is just hanging out as happy as can be in his bouncy seat.


When we dropped Diego off, all the kids were playing with these fun baloons.


When we arrived to pick him up, it was storytime.


Diego did a neat dinosaur craft at sports camp and when Alexia saw it she asked if she could do one like it. I traced the dinosaur and pulled out the paints so they could do a craft in the afternoon. Diego decided that the one he did at home would be for Marco...so sweet!

She sure loves painting!

Diego only wanted "boy colors"

Sweet, sleepin' babe. Yes, he is a belly-sleeper!

Tio Aldo came over for dinner last week and Diego was really excited to play soccer with him. Whenever Aldo was not running after the ball with Diego, Alexia would ask to hold his hand and walk with him...precious!

They are BIG time into puzzles right now. They split this puzzle up and each worked on a part and then put it together at the end. I loved that teamwork and how excited they were to see each other's progress.

Funny girl

On Sunday when we were driving Ricardo said something to Alexia and she said, "Dada, I can't hear you. I have water in my ears." Ricardo and I totally cracked up and of course she cracked herself up as well.
Today I was carrying her to the bathroom and she said, "Mama, you're so good at this because you're so strong."
This girl is so full of personality and brightens our days with so many smiles and much laughter.

Hi!

I am going to try to update the blog more often, even if it is just with a quick hello or just one photo. I spoke with my godmother yesterday and Ricardo spoke with his dad and when we hear how much our family looks forward to reading about/seeing the kids, it motivates me to update more regularly. I just put Diego and Alexia down for naps (hopefully they will fall asleep!) and Marco is asleep in his car seat so I have a few minutes to write before he wakes up and wants to eat...

...not that it would hurt him to miss a meal. Look at those chubs! This boy is chunking up before our eyes and is just getting more and more cuddly!


A friend gave Diego this "Little Prince" shirt when he was a baby so here is his little brother sportin' it.


We went to Michaela's 2nd birthday party on Saturday and had a great time. I didn't have my camera with me, but I copied this picture from a friend's blog. Alexis (on the far right) is Michaela's little sister, at 5 months and all the way down the line to Mary Frances at 5 weeks. Marco is the 2nd to the left, at 6 weeks. I love this picture of all the babes in a hammock!

Dentist

Diego had a dentist appointment today and he did awesome. I just read back to the post that I wrote about his appointment in March '09 and was reminded at how much he loved going that day. He had a great experience last year so I think that is why he was so excited to go this time. The hygienist was surprised at how excitedly he jumped up into the chair. He sat as still as can be and did everything she asked of him. Alexia sat in a chair right next to him and was very curious about everything that was going on. She kept asking him if it hurt and he just nodded his head no. Marco was asleep in the stroller during the whole appointment. I wasn't sure how I was going to do taking all three of them to the dentist, but it was so easy since Marco slept the whole time. Diego's teeth look great and we will return in 6 months. As we were leaving I told him we could go out for a treat since he and Alexia behaved so well and he asked to go to Yogli Mogli, an awesome frozen yogurt place that is all self-serve. They have 12+ flavors of frozen yogurt and 20+ toppings and you get to serve it all yourself so the kids absolutely love it. We had a special time enjoying our frozen yogurt together. Marco slept through our whole time there as well. I thought I'd test my luck and ran to the mall real quick to buy some face wash with the kids and Marco slept through that as well! He had started that nap in his crib, I transferred him to his car seat and he didn't wake up until we returned home again, 3 hours later!

A very happy boy in the dentist chair!

His 1st dentist appointment back in March '09

Enjoying a special treat at Yogli Mogli. That's Marco snoozin' in the stroller to the right of the table.

Mima's visit and keeping busy

Ricardo's mom was here to visit last week and we had a great time with her. The kids and her spent a lot of time in the backyard, hanging out in the pool. They also went to lunch at chik fil a, went out for ice cream and had fun playing games and reading books at home. It was wonderful to have her here and we miss her already!

Enjoying sweet watermelon in the pool on her first day in HOT Atlanta!

Notice Mima's Germany jersey! Diego enjoyed watching some World Cup games with Mima on the computer.

Happy Mima with her three babies.

She loved giving Marco a bath!

On Saturday and Sunday, we all went to Tio Aldo's to watch the World Cup games. Diego was really into watching the games and Alexia even enjoyed them!

She was really tired on Saturday and didn't want to sleep on a bed upstairs, so we let her take her nap on Papi's chest...she slept like this for almost 2 hours.

Marco did great through it all and slept when he was tired and ate when he was hungry. Here he is getting some love from big brother.



Ricardo left for London on Monday so we have been on our own all week. It has gone much better than I expected. We have kept busy which has certainly helped the days go by. On Monday Diego said to me, "You are going to need a lot of help from Alexia and I when Papa is not here." Sweet boy. On Tuesday we went to Ruth's house to celebrate Anjuli's 5th birthday. It was a blast! Ruth had a wonderful High Tea party and the spread was quite impressive! The kids decorated scones with blueberries, chocolate chips and raisins. Here is the birthday girl...

The beautiful table of delicacies

Alexia and Keona had their own special table in the kitchen

After Anjuli's party we went home and all four of us had a nap, which was wonderful! Once everybody was awake, we had snacks and headed out the door again to celebrate Patrick and Benjamin's birthday. Diego and Alexia have always loved baby Benjamin and were excited that he turned ONE! Here's Diego giving the birthday boy a high-five...

I started this post yesterday and Ricardo has since returned from his trip. We were all so excited to see him last night. The kids had great naps yesterday so they got to stay up until close to 10:00pm! We're a little sleepy this morning, but not as cranky as I had expected!

Rewind...

...to Monday. I forgot that I hadn't posted the pictures from our time at the Dunwoody July 4th Festival. Ricardo walked there with the Diego and Alexia around 10:00 and Marco and I drove over a little while later. It was super hot out and I wasn't up to walking in the heat and I wasn't sure how long Marco would be happy being out and about so I decided to cut the travel time. Anyway, we had a great time and Marco slept the ENTIRE time we were there...almost 3 hours. There was a huge parade and lots of festivities to enjoy.

This was so cool. They had these enormous balls that the kids could climb into and then go for a spin. Alexia tried it too, but opted out as soon as she realized how big it was inside there.

A closeup of Diego in the ball.

We let them choose a treat and the winner was...cotton candy!

Ricardo and I cracked up at how Alexia ate it. She would take a HUGE chunk off...

...and stuff it into her mouth, enjoying how quickly it melted.


Marco was awake when we arrived and soon fell fast asleep and stayed that way the whole time. Sweet boy.

On Tuesday, we spent the morning with Ruth, her girls and new baby BOY! Ruth and I had a wonderful time together and the 4 big kids had a lot of fun playing for a few hours. Callen was born 11 days after Marco so it is so much fun to have babies of the same age!

Curled up together on the chair. It will be so special to watch these boys grow up together!

We wanted to check their weight difference so Ruth pulled out her midwife scale sling and put each babe in.

4 weeks!!!

Marco had his 4-week doctor appointment on Tuesday. I was shocked to find out he weighs 10 pounds, 8 ounces. He was 6 pounds, 10 ounces when we left the hospital so that means he is packing on a pound a week. We had certainly noticed the emergence of sweet, adorable chubs, but had no idea there were that many!
He checked out perfectly and we praise God that he is a super healthy boy. He continues to be the highlight of the household and Diego and Alexia are just as in love with him as ever. They smother him with tons of kisses and cuddles and he never complains.
Ricardo's mom is visiting this week so we are enjoying our time with her. She just left with Diego and Alexia to get Diego's hair cut at the salon and to go to Publix so I am going to go have a shower and possibly a nap.


At 2 weeks


At 4 weeks. Notice how much chubbier his cheeks are!


Enjoying his bath. He loves the warm water!


All snuggled up in his new bathrobe from Mima


They each love to claim a hand to kiss

Oops, I just realized I uploaded all the pictures in the wrong order, but I'll just go ahead and leave them like that since I need to get to bed real soon!
We are doing great and have had a wonderful weekend. Ricardo took Friday off of work and he had today off for the holiday so we've had a great 4-day weekend!
On Friday we decided Marco was ready to hit our favorite Mexican restaurant so we ventured out for our first meal out as a family and it was a huge success. He fell asleep in the car on our way there and didn't wake up until we returned home, a few hours later! He did so well that after dinner we decided we could fit in an ice cream stop on the way home. It was a lot of fun to be out!
To celebrate the 4th of July we had a bbq here at home and Ricardo's cousin, Tio Aldo came over to hang out with us.
Today (Monday) we went to an awesome neighborhood parade and festival. I will upload those pictures to share in the next few days.
Marco is now 4 weeks old which is hard to believe! He is doing really well. He is such a good baby and really only cries when he's hungry or tired. Today I told Ricardo that I feel like I have a magnet on my lips and he has another one on his forehead because I just can't stop kissing him! He is so sweet and cuddly. He eats every 2 hours, night and day, but is a very efficient nurser so feedings only last about 15 minutes. I look forward to getting more sleep at night, but I do love the sweetness of this tender age and know that he will be sleeping through the night before I know it.

Ok, now for what you checked in for...the pictures!

Diego burned through 6 or 7 sparklers. Alexia did one and didn't want to touch another one so I'm glad I snapped some pictures while she had one!

Tio Aldo pushing Alexia on the swing. I had to take a picture because it cracked me up that she was swinging with her legs crossed!

Marco and I were the only ones who dressed up in red, white and blue for the occasion.

I had the settings messed up on the camera so you can't appreciate the color, but I wanted to share this picture of the crepe myrtle behind the play set. It is stunning!

One side of the table at La Fonda Latina...

...and the other side. Now we take up the whole booth!


Enjoying frozen yogurt after dinner. Marco slept through it all!

Last Tuesday Helen invited the kids and I to the splash park at her apartment complex. It was awesome and the kids had an absolute blast! Marco slept in his carrier for awhile and when he woke up, I held him and let him enjoy listening to the squeals and splashes of the big kids.