10 years!!!

***I started this post many days ago, but am just going to go ahead and post without updating time references***

The next few posts are going to be a bit out of order, but I haven't uploaded pictures from the other camera so I will start with our weekend away...
Ricardo and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary last Wednesday. He took the day off and we had a really special day. We had a daytime babysitter for all three kids, for the first time. We went out to a wonderful Italian lunch and then to buy a few things at Ikea for our party on Friday night.
On Friday, we renewed our wedding vows which was unbelievably special. I will write about that in a separate post, with pictures and all. For now, I will share about our 2nd honeymoon...
On Saturday morning, Jasmine (my dear friend, Ruth's sister in law)arrived to help my mom take care of the kids for the weekend. My mom is awesome with Diego and Alexia, but we did not want her to go crazy having all three kids, so we asked Jasmine to come be Marco's nanny for the weekend. I have been pumping milk for the past few weeks and had collected quite a stash, but I was really nervous about him taking the bottle well and sleeping well for her...more to come on that later...suffice to say he did amazingly well!
So, Ricardo and I took off around 11am on Saturday and started our getaway with a stop for lunch at a great sushi restaurant. From there we made the drive to Serenbe, a fabulous community a little over an hour away. For our first night there, we had a great little apartment in the community and our second night was in a cottage, near the Inn. Our time there was wonderful. We went on long walks, ate delicious food, relaxed and just took it easy. It was such a perfect way to celebrate our anniversary and have a really special time to reconnect and have time alone.


The cheesy couple shaping hearts in the shadows :)


Self-portrait during our afternoon walk on Sunday

The gorgeous sky we enjoyed on our walk

Breathtaking!

The beautiful cottage. Look at that BLUE sky!

The sitting area of the cottage

Another self timer shot...

...and another! :)

Our baby is 6 months old!

Can it really be true? Marco Andres has been with us for SIX months!? It is amazing how fast the time has flown by. Marco turned 6 months old on Monday. Where do I begin? I can't even explain to you what a wonder baby he is. He is so mellow, laid back, happy, relaxed, adorable, personable, funny, chubby...he is simply angelic. He really is. If you know him, you know what I am talking about. He rarely cries, he smiles and laughs often and is totally content being held and watching what is going on around him. Diego and Alexia are just as in love with him as they were the day we brought him home from the hospital. They talk to him all day long, do all they can to make him cackle, jump into his crib to give him cuddles when he wakes up, play with him, protect him and pray for him.

He can now sit up, without support for 10+ minutes. He still tumbles over sometimes, but has great balance. I am happy that I can now leave him sitting up and not laying down. He is a rolly polly so if I leave him on his back, he rolls himself across the room and has been known to end up under tables and under beds!
We had his 6-month check up yesterday. He weighs 18lb 8oz which puts him in the 75th percentile. I forget how long he was, but I want to say 26.5 inches?
He is a great eater and sleeper. He goes to bed around 7:00pm, nurses around 4:30am and then wakes up between 7:00 and 8:00. He usually goes back down for a morning nap around 9am which lasts from 45 minutes to 2 hours. He takes another afternoon nap around 2pm which again, lasts from 45 minutes to 2 hours. This schedule is very loose and changes every single day. He can be out and about all day long and just take cat naps here and there to get enough energy to carry on with the day without getting fussy. He does not have a feeding schedule, I just nurse when he's hungry. He has been exclusively breastfed until Monday, when he had his first taste of rice cereal. I mixed 1 tablespoon of cereal with water and he devoured the entire bowl within minutes. He LOVED it. With D & A, I always mixed the cereal with breast milk, but thought I would do it with water just to try (thanks Jessie!) and sure enough, he thought it was great.

Ready to try his food!

I had to hold his arms down the whole time he ate because he wanted to grab the spoon from me.

YUMMY!

Sitting up and playing with his favorite toy

We love you Marco!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanksgiving week

I forgot to post the below picture of Diego playing soccer after Marco's baptism. Action shot!


We had a very busy and fun-filled week with Mima and Opa here. On Monday we headed to Sweetwater Creek for one our favorite nature walks. It was a gorgeous day and we all had a blast. We took a picnic lunch and ate along the trail and hung out near the river for quite awhile. The kids loved it and had fun showing Mima and Opa all of their favorite things along the trail.
On Tuesday, Mima and Opa took Diego and Alexia to the zoo and then to Carter's to go shopping so they were gone all day. It was going to be my day to do errands and get stuff done around the house, but my darling baby boy had other plans...cutting teeth. He was not terrible, but just a little fussier than normal and wanted me to hold him. No matter how many other things need to get done, it is such a joy to be able to sit down and care for a baby in need of cuddles and love.
On Wednesday, the whole gang went to Stone Mountain...Mima, Opa, Diego, Alexia, Aldo, Eliana, Cami and a friend of Eliana. They were gone most of the day and had a wonderful time. They took the skyride to the top and walked all the way down. Alexia walked the whole way down by herself which I was surprised and happy to hear! The kids returned absolutely worn out and exhausted and were ready for an early bedtime. Marco and I spent the day doing a bunch of errands, getting ready for the Thanksgiving cooking marathon, which began Wednesday afternoon. We decided to do double date night in that night so Ricardo and Freddy made some massive steaks on the grill and we had a yummy dinner which was a nice break from the frantics of getting everything ready for Thanksgiving. Before going to bed, we left the turkey in it's overnight brine and left our list of things to do for the next morning. Thursday was a busy day of cooking, cleaning and getting everything ready, but we enjoyed ourselves in the midst of it all. Gracia and I made turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, green beans, cornbread pudding, cranberry sauce, pecan pie and pumpkin pie - DELISH! Aldo and family came around 3pm and Ricardo picked up our friend, Justo and brought him over at the same time. We served the food around 5pm and enjoyed way too much of everything. Marco was having a tough afternoon and could not settle down easily so I spent most of the dinner and dessert time upstairs with him. Tuesday and Thursday were his two worse teething days and he has been fine since then.
On Friday, Gracia and Freddy headed out to the outlets for Black Friday shopping. I took the kids to have lunch at Chik Fil A with Jessie and her kids. We had not seen them since they moved to Florida in March (or April?) so it was soooo much fun to see them and to meet baby Augie who is just two weeks younger than Marco. Diego and Alexia were thrilled to see Sofia and Albe and we had a nice time. Ricardo took our friend, Justo out for the afternoon so we met back up at home in the evening for turkey leftovers and a laid back night.
On Saturday morning, we took it easy, had pancakes for breakfast and Gracia and Freddy left around 11am to make the drive down to Florida. Our house was in a dreadful state so we decided to run away from it and go out for the day. We went to a taco place for lunch (delicious!), a coffee shop for coffee and donuts and then to a park to play for a few hours. We put the kids down to bed after dinner and Ricardo and I teamed up to get the house back in order.
We put up our Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon which was so much fun. The kids were giddy, pulling out all of the ornaments and decorating the tree. We had a picnic type dinner as we decorated and then I surprised the kids with homemade hot chocolate and peppermint cookies once they finished the project. Bliss!


Sliding down the hills of the forest at Sweetwater Creek

Like last time, we hung out here by the river for almost 2 hours

At the Zoo on Tuesday

At the top of Stone Mountain

Double date night in on Wednesday

As we finished up the meal on Thanksgiving, the kids made their "turkeys of thanks" and wrote what they're thankful for on the feathers.

Alexia and Justo enjoying their meal

Diego wrote all of the place cards and chose where he wanted each person to sit. Of course, he put himself next to Tio Aldo!

Lunch at Chik Fil A on Friday

Diego and Sofia's farewell hug

Jessie and Augie

A fun ride in a wagon at the park on Saturday. Ricardo pulled them all around the park like this and Diego loved holding Marco.

He loved the swing!

Scooter girl

My baby and me

Diego was so busy with these buddies that he made. They spent a lot of time climbing on the roofs of the houses.

Decorating the Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon

Enjoying munchies for dinner

Marco's baptism

So, back to Sunday...two weeks ago. Gracia and Freddy arrived Saturday night and we were out of the house bright and early Sunday morning for Marco's baptism during the 9:15am service. With the baptism of each child, my heart rejoices more and more as I grasp more fully what it means to raise our children in a Christian home. As more truths are imprinted on my heart and my faith grows, I feel more and more honored to have the role of raising our children for the Lord. Baptising Marco does not mean that he is now a little Christian. Baptising Marco means that Ricardo and I have made a commitment before the Lord and before our church that we will raise him (and Diego and Alexia) in a home that honors the Lord and where Jesus is our King.
I have been wanting to share the news that Ricardo was ordained Deacon in our church last month. He was nominated last year and went through a year of coursework and study to prepare him for the role. He is too humble to say it, but is going to be a wonderful Deacon because of his heart for helping people and serving God. As his wife, I am very encouraged by him and so happy to see they ways in which God is working mightily in his life.

Pastor Paul asked that no flash photography be used, so Aldo did his best with the pictures. Marco wore an adorable little outfit that Roberto and Daniela brought for him. Diego and Alexia did really well standing up there with us and barely made a peep.

After church we all headed home for a yummy pizza lunch...

...and some soccer...

...and swinging...

...and smiles!

We ended the special day with cuddles next to the fireplace.