A Full House

My friend Susanna was in town this week (her and her family moved to New York last year) so I hosted a lunch for several friends to get together. We hadn't seen Susanna since she left and she has since had a precious baby girl (Ellie, 3 months old). Her son, Micah is 7-months younger than Diego so they couldn't really play together a year ago, but the age gap gets smaller as they grow older. Diego was just thrilled to have so many friends over. There were 5 mommies and 8 (EIGHT!!) children. It is great that the big kids are at the age now where we can just let them run free through the house and know that they pretty much keep themselves out of trouble. They spent the first couple hours in the playroom and then headed to Diego's room to play.

The gang!

From left to right: Susanna with Micah and Ellie, Jana with MaraKate, Me with Diego & Alexia, Vanessa with Michaela and Kim with Josh and Rachel

Micah giving Diego a big hug!

After a great lunch we enjoyed a delicious cake (baked by Kim) and coffee.

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Diego and Mara Kate really stuck together - it was neat to see much they enjoy each other's company

Don't tell Mara Kate's daddy that she gave Diego a smooch :)

Visit from Grammie

My mom was here with us all of last week and we had a very productive week. Ricardo was in London the whole week so we took care of a lot of projects around the house, errands, shopping, cooking and cleaning.
I wish I would've taken more pictures because Grammie and Diego did so many things together. One day they spent several hours assembling a chest of drawers for his room and he loved it. He was very proud to use his own tools and did just what Grammie told him - screw this, hammer that - he did great. Another day they spent the morning in the kitchen, making cookies. He was amazing. He was engaged for several hours and even decorated ALL the cookies almost by himself.
Ricardo returned Friday evening and him and I met downtown for a date which was a lot of fun.
Diego was very happy to see Ricardo on Saturday morning, but Alexia was absolutely giddy. He went to pick her up from her crib and she giggled and clung on to him tight. He brought her to me so I could nurse her and when he put her down, she started to cry and scream until he picked her up again. She laid her head on his shoulder and just cuddled with him and really expressed to him that she had missed him - it was precious.



Helping Grammie measure out the flour


He loved rolling out the dough and cutting the cookies


I went out to do errands while they frosted the cookies so there are no pictures of them in action, but here is the finished product...he did ALL of these cookies.


Here's a close-up so you can see the detail of his frosting job.


I have been wanting to get a picture of the famous "green car" from Publix. This is how the kids and I do our grocery shopping every week. They each have a steering wheel and sit next to each other and usually get through the whole round of shopping without bugging each other.


Can you tell who loves his baby sister?!




We had a family BBQ on Saturday afternoon. This is Diego eating a......HOT DOG! Yes, that's right, I let him have a hot dog :)


Playing tee-ball - he hits the ball like a pro!


Alexia hanging out in the exersaucer, watching her brother play ball

Starting the week off right!

Mondays are usually our day of groceries, errands, cleaning and work. But yesterday we started our week off in such a fun way. Our friends Nina and Deven came over for a 6-hour playdate and we had a blast. Deven is 6 months younger than Diego, but they have a lot of fun playing together. Alexia also enjoyed playing with the boys. After we all had lunch together we put all three kids down for a nap at the same time which worked out really well. Nina and I had almost 2 hours of grown up time which was such a treat. We drank coffee and tea, ate cake and enjoyed each other's company. Once the kids were awake, we played inside for awhile and then set them loose in the yard. Alexia hung out in her exersaucer while the boys rode their tricycles.


Alexia played right next to the boys and they were sweet enough to pass her a tractor

Standing up

Just wanted to quickly share pictures of Alexia in her preferred position. I thought she would take awhile to walk, but I think she may be on the move sooner than we expect. She stands up wherever she can and is even trying to stand up on her own, without holding onto anything. I had to carry her through Target yesterday because she was sitting behind the handle bars in the shopping cart and she kept trying to stand up (and she was buckled in!) I sternly told her "No!" and tapped her leg, but she did not want to sit down. So then I had Diego sit behind the handlebars and sat her inside the cart...and of course, she stood up. Grocery shopping may be challenging for the next couple of months!
Another development of hers (that I am not happy about) is that she is dropping her morning nap. I lay her down every morning for her nap and it has almost been two weeks since she's fallen asleep. I need that time to shower and get ready so I just leave her in her crib for 40-60 minutes and she cries, talks, plays, cries some more and eventually gets to come out.

Here she is!

Retreat

This weekend we were away for our church-wide retreat in northern Georgia and had a wonderful time. We drove up on Friday afternoon and returned late Sunday afternoon. Our guest speaker was Richard Pratt and the theme of the weekend was defining what God's call is for our church in Atlanta and how we, as the congregation, need to get moving in spreading the good news. We were challenged, refreshed and encouraged.
Especially with this economic scare that we are amidst, it is ever-more important to remember that God is in control and He gives us the hope that will never be found in the things of this world.
Diego had soooooo much fun during the weekend. He has an absolute blast with the big kids and loved running around with them. He got to sleep in his own queen-sized bed which was a big deal! The biggest excitement of the weekend was that he went in a canoe for the first time. Ricardo took him out in a canoe and he did so well. He sat as still as can be for the long ride and took in all the beautiful scenery and really enjoyed it. He was so still and observant that I think he could've been happy for hours.
Alexia didn't have so much fun :( She didn't get any naps and was in nursery while we were in our sessions (most of Saturday and Sunday morning). She didn't sleep well at night since we were all in the same hotel room. Despite her sleeplessness and fussiness, she was so happy to be around people and loved mealtimes when we all got together. It's amazing to see what a social baby she is. She can be tired, hungry, cranky and restless, but as soon as there are people to talk to and look at, she is all smiles. A big development over the weekend is that she is pulling up now. She crawls up to anything and pulls herself up to standing and just grins with pride. She is also saying "Uh oh" when she drops something and displays an expression of concern.
I'm sure I've said this many times, but this little girl has her daddy upside-down, crazy and just silly with love. He melts every time he's with her :)
The kids and I went to the grocery store today and I let Diego do something that he always wants to do, but I've never let him do before: put all the groceries away. I put all the bags on the kitchen floor and he took out each item (I quickly snuck the eggs up onto the counter) and found a place for them in the fridge and in the cupboards. He was so delighted with himself that he had such an important task. Yes, there is bread in the vegetable drawer and lettuce in the shelf on the door, but he did a great job. It's awesome to see how he loves to help and really gets into high spirits when he is doing something important. He is a superstar!!


Can't you tell by this grin that he was just giddy with excitement!?









The resort had a petting zoo that we visited on Sat afternoon and Diego loved the goats and pigs.


Alexia was very popular amongst the young girls - they loved having a baby to tote around :)


Three of these children are siblings and Anjuli, on the left is one of Diego's good friends


My friend Bobbi-Jo took this picture and I "borrowed" it to post here because I thought it was precious

Fall!

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day. We are so excited Fall is here!! I took Diego to get his haircut and on the way home we picked up lunch to eat at home with Papi. Ricardo worked from home this morning so we enjoyed lunch outside in the yard. These are some pictures we took after lunch:

You can see Diego's haircut in this picture. Notice the pictures below, his hair was so long. After they finished cutting his hair in the salon he looked in the mirror and said "Ay, mira que lindo!" (Ah, look how cute!)

While the kids were napping yesterday I decided to unpack 4 boxes of papers, supplies, etc. I had a ton of stuff spread out all over the family room and kitchen when....."MAMI! MAMI!" The kids were up! I still had a lot to do and didn't want to stop in the middle so I put Diego in his booster (which, by the way, he hasn't sat in since we moved here) with three tubs of play-doh and I put Alexia in her booster with a baby cookie, cheerios and sippy cup. They were both as happy as can be and allowed me to work for a WHOLE HOUR! It was fabulous. Diego hadn't played with play-doh in months so it was very entertaining for him. He used his imagination really well and made buildings, boats, fish, dinosaurs and birds. :)


I was trying to get through the piles of paper on the far table. They each sat in their chairs doing their own thing.










Alexia loved this cookie and probably ate way too many cheerios, but she was happy


This is was getting close to the end and she was ready to get out!


Having fun together!
Diego has entered an awesome stage where he loves to play with Alexia and takes good care of her. Today we were driving in the car and he said, "Mami, no se llama Alexia. Se llama MI HERMANA." (Mom, her name's not Alexia. Her name is MY SISTER."


My sweet baby girl!

Playgroup

Before Alexia was born, Diego and I would occasionally attend a playgroup that gets together on Friday mornings. I had never hosted the group and always promised that as soon as we moved, we'd host at our place. Well, today was the day we hosted and we had so much fun. Only 3 friends (and their moms) were able to make it, but it still felt like a big group since the kids were so busy. I only got a couple of shots, but thought they were cute enough to share.

Diego and Caitlin drawing together before the others arrived. This is the playroom where we spend many hours of our days.

Clockwise from the bottom: Claire, Diego, Brock and Caitlin enjoying lunch.

On Wednesday we hosted Ricardo's men's bible study group and invited families to come along as well. This is a cute shot of Sean and Michaela (2-months) with Ricardo and Alexia: