Boston!

We are in Boston this week and are having a wonderful time. We arrived on Friday evening and will stay through Saturday. Ricardo has work meetings every day, but we had a really nice weekend together as a family. My friend Shay was in town with her husband so we had lunch with them on Saturday at one of our very favorite sandwich shops. We strolled around Harvard Square which used to be a very common weekend activity for us. It was so much fun to be in our old neighborhoods with Diego. He loved being out and about and exploring all the new places. On Saturday night we had a babysitter come to the hotel and we went out on a date to celebrate our birthdays since they're both this week. We went to an old favorite of ours in the South End and had a wonderful time.
On Sunday we went to Christ the King Presbyterian Church in Cambridge which we really enjoyed. We love going to churches in different cities and experiencing the different worship styles. The congregation was very welcoming and it was the perfect start to our day. We left Diego in the nursery and when we went to pick him up after the service, we encountered the cutest thing ever. He has a blankie ("colcha") that he sleeps with and that he holds to suck his thumb. We found him sitting cross-legged next to a little girl and they were both holding on to a corner of her pink blankie, sucking their thumbs! I really wish I would've pulled out my camera to take a picture, because it was absolutely priceless!
After church we had a quick slice of pizza for lunch (at Ricardo’s very favorite pizza place) and then headed downtown for a stroll down Newbury St and Commonwealth Ave. We let Diego run loose on Commonwealth and he had a blast! He got to pet doggies, see statues, walk on grass, watch big boys run around and see lots of beautiful trees and flowers. He was so happy!
We are thrilled to be able to live spring all over again. In Atlanta spring has come and gone, but here it is just beginning and it is breathtaking!
I forgot the camera cable at home so I won't be able to share any pictures until our return, but will have lots and lots.
The sun finally broke through today and we had a gorgeous day so Diego and I spent a lot of time walking in the city, what I miss most about our times here.

Diego's New Do!

Diego had his sixth haircut yesterday. As we were entering the salon, a little boy was leaving who had just had his hair cut and had a really short style. I knew I wanted to get Diego’s hair cut shorter than usual, but this little boy looked so cute that I told the stylist to go for it and make it short! I have to take him once a month now since his hair is growing so fast so I figured this would buy us some time and hopefully allow us to go a little less often. He looks like such a big boy with short hair. She even put gel in it to spike the bangs which was really cute. He did great as always and danced along with the music that they played to distract him. He did so well that we picked Papi up from work at noon and all went out to lunch together for a prize for Diego. All he wanted to eat was cornbread muffins and potato chips. He has entered a stage where he is very picky about eating so we have to find what he likes and let him go at it.
There is a construction site across the street from our apartment building and Diego loves to watch the trucks at work. Every afternoon we go out for a walk and we stop to watch all the action for a little while. I’ve included some pictures below…



Check out the spikes!

Showing off his muscles

Profile view

Headed out for a walk with a quick stop at the construction-site

I kept calling him to look at the camera, but he didn't want to turn around

This is after bath-time so you can see the natural look, without the gel

Diego in action

Many of you haven't been able to see Diego in action, so here he is!

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1072766132071505003


Lucky for me, Ricardo and Diego are the gardners of the family. Diego now loves to help Papi take care of the plants...

Mom's weekend away

This past weekend was the first time that I’ve left Diego for more than a few hours and I went away for 2 nights. I went on a women’s retreat with our church and had a really wonderful time. I roomed with 3 other girlfriends who have young children, one of them also pregnant so we served as a great support system for each other. I was able to disconnect and really enjoy my time away. Ricardo and Diego did great and had a fun boy’s weekend. They went out to dinner together on Friday night and again on Saturday for lunch. Diego pulled a little stunt on Ricardo. Diego woke up at 6:00am on Saturday which was a bit early so Ricardo brought him back to bed to try to get him to fall asleep. Well, in his failed attempt to get Diego back asleep, Ricardo fell asleep himself. He was abruptly awoken by a glass of water crashing off the bedside table onto the floor. Diego had crawled out of the bed (which he had never been able to do before) and was exploring the bedroom. Ricardo later discovered the drawer of my bedside table had been rummaged through as well so Diego had definitely been busy. Luckily he’s not terribly mischievous so he didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to venture out of the bedroom and get into even more trouble.
It was priceless to see the smile on his face when he saw me at church on Sunday morning – it was so nice to be together as a family again!
I don’t have any new pictures to post, but promise to have some up soon…

NEWS! NEWS! NEWS!

Diego has big news to share - he is going to be a big brother!!!! We had our first prenatal visit today and we are 9 weeks pregnant with a due date in early November. We are so grateful for this blessing and really excited to have another baby. We had an ultrasound today which was amazing because we could already see the head and body of the baby, as well as the buds which will be the arms and legs - and he/she is just less than an inch long. The heartbeat was excellent and everything looks great. We will keep you posted...!

EL SALVADOR!

We’re back from El Salvador! We had an absolutely wonderful time. Before I write about the trip, I have to share the exciting news that Diego is walking! He took his first steps on March 26 (his 14-month birthday). It has been so exciting to watch him explore and slowly master this new skill. He still crawls, but now spends most of his time walking when we’re at home.
Our trip was a blast. It was so special to be with Ricardo’s family and to also spend a lot time with our friends. It was also a treat to be able to see Mima (Ricardo’s mom) as she was in town for business. Ricardo’s grandma threw a piñata birthday party for Diego on Saturday which was a lot of fun. It was his third birthday party (but the first one with an actual piñata)! The highlight of the trip for Diego was one day that we went to the ocean with the Lopez family. Diego went WILD in the water – he loved it! He would get upset when we would walk away from the ocean, back up to the ranch area – he wanted to play in the waves for hours at a time. He loved it when Ricardo would hold him over the wave break and he could feel the water splash on his body. We also let him walk along the shore and play with the sand. It was fascinating to watch his excitement.
Another highlight was a trip to the mountains. Diego couldn’t get enough of the horses, chickens, dogs, flowers, etc.
Diego even ate a lot of typical foods. He had cheese pupusas (which he loved!), corn tamales, pollo campero, fried plantains, refried beans, cream, tortillas and lots of delicious fresh fruit.




Mmmmm - pupusas hot off the grill!


With my Uncle Diego and Uncle Rodrigo


Enjoying a swim with my buddies, Marco and Camilo

Taking a bath Salvadoran-style

I want to live in the ocean!

My great-grandpa loved playing with me in the waves

My grandpa did too!

Hitting my airplane pinata with Mima

Hitting my cookie-monster surfer pinata with Uncle Roberto

Swinging with Daniela, Juan Diego and Papi

Dinosaurs go "Woof!"

On Saturday we went to a puppet show at the Center for Puppetry Arts with a group of friends and had a blast. It was not just any ol’ puppet show – it was like nothing else we’d ever seen. The puppets were life-size and had people inside of them controlling their movements and singing and dancing. We were sitting in the front row so Diego was very engaged. The theme of the show was Dinosaurs. Diego loves doggies and barks whenever he sees a picture of one or sees a live one. Well, he seemed to think that these dinosaurs were enormous doggies because he spent a lot of the time barking at them. It was so cute! The show was about an hour long which is a long time to hold his attention, but he did great. He snapped his fingers and shook his head with the music and squealed and laughed when he just couldn’t contain the emotion. Before the show started we were able to go upstairs and make our own shadow puppets which you will see in the picture below (I had a great time making it!)
In the evening we went to California Pizza Kitchen for dinner and Diego displayed his wild toddler side! As you can see from the picture, he loved having his very own crayons and coloring book. Although, he doesn’t realize that there are designated areas for coloring with crayons so he colored the table, the dividing glass between tables, the napkins, etc. He loved the pizza and ate two whole pieces. He tried to climb up onto the table about 25 times, jumped up and down with joy, threw straws across the table, almost pushed a plate off the edge and banged the menus up and down on the table. He was full of energy and certainly took the opportunity to burn it off. We had lots of laughs and had a great time.
The spring-time pictures from the previous post are from a picnic that we had on Sunday afternoon. Ricardo’s office has beautiful gardens on the property with a pond, a small stream, a nice walking path, tons of trees and flowers and cute lil’ animals running around. I used to take Diego on walks there when he was much smaller so it had been awhile since he had been. We decided it was a great setting for an afternoon picnic and headed over. Diego loved it! Papi took him down to the stream to see the ducks and he kept pointing at them and squealing. He loved seeing the little waterfalls and all of the motion of the trees, flowers, planes, etc.
Once he is walking, these kinds of outings will be totally different since it will be impossible to contain him in the stroller or our arms!

Diego has now learned how to "ROAR" at his dinosaur puppet


Can you see that mischievous glint in his eye?

Still lovin' bathtime!