On the move

Our sweet, precious Marco is officially crawling. Yesterday he took his very first "crawl." In the early afternoon he took two little crawls and then would flop down on to his belly. By the time Ricardo came home from work, we put him on the floor and he he inched forward 3 or 4 times. I think it will be a few days before he is crawling all around, all the time, but it is so fun to see him move. And he is very clearly saying "mama" and it is the sweetest thing ever!!! Diego and Alexia's first word was "papa" so I am excited to hear this sweet word come from the lips of this little guy. He says it over and over a lot through the day and it just melts my heart. We've had a very mellow week as Diego has been sick. On Monday we went to the doctor and he has strep so is on antibiotics. After the doctor we went to Trader Joes and then home. On Tuesday we were home all day except for a quick trip to the salon for Alexia. Today will be our first time really getting out and we are going to go to playgroup at church which we are all so excited about!

Haircuts for Alexia and Marco

Ricardo has been asking to cut Marco's hair for a few weeks now and I officially protested up until Saturday. I finally realized that he was right and Marco's hair was getting a little wild. We don't like hair over the ears or mullets, so it was time to save our sweet baby from both. Ricardo sat him on his lap and took the buzzer to his head. He did so well and was quite the champ. I need to get some good "after" shots, but he looks absolutely adorable. I am so thankful for a husband who takes a genuine interest in the grooming of the children and does an awesome job keeping it up. Alexia has also been long overdue for a haircut. I'm sure you have noticed that she rarely wears a clip in her hair and her eyes are often covered by her hair. Don't think it doesn't drive me crazy...it does! She hates having anything in her hair and her hair is so fine and her scalp is so delicate, that I can't blame her. I finally took her to my salon (again, at Ricardo's request) and asked them to give her a cut that will keep the hair out of her eyes. She was so excited and I absolutely love how it turned out! The "before" shot Diego came down with strep throat this weekend so he is still a little low on energy. He just wanted to sit in the chairs and watch. He has been on antibiotics and fever-free for over 24 hours so I figured it was fine to take him out. She received special treatment with the roll brush and hair dryer. She loved it. I love how this picture captures the pensive boy in Diego and the spunky girl in Alexia How cute is she!?!?!

Opera and park day

Today Ruth and I took the kids to a children's performance of The Pirates of Penzance at the Atlanta Opera. It was a great show and Diego and Anjuli loved it. Alexia and Keona cried in hysterics with the pirate's first "AAAARRRGGHHHH!" and Ruth and I had to go running to the front to scoop them up and bring them back to our seats with us. After the show we went to the park for some great play time and a picnic lunch.
Diego went home with them for a special playdate which he absolutely loved. I brought Alexia and Marco home and since Marco slept the whole time we were at home, Alexia and I had some special time together. We had a pretend tea party, she had a bath, we read books, made dinner, folded laundry and enjoyed our girl time!


Callen and Marco getting ready for the picnic

Sweetwater Creek

On Saturday afternoon, we headed to one of our favorite spots for a nature walk. Marco took his nap in the baby bjorn while Ricardo took the kids exploring in the water. It was a wonderful afternoon and we all had a blast.

Ricardo taught Diego how to skip rocks and Diego was thrilled when he was able to skip several rocks in a row!

Refreshed after his nap!

Chattanooga, con't

On Saturday, we had a slow start and headed to the incline railway to ride to the top of Lookout Mountain. The kids thought it was great and the views were amazing.

We had the most wonderful walk once we arrived to the top. All three kids took turns in the stroller since Ricardo and I just wanted to walk, walk, walk.

I can't believe the documentation of the trip ended there. On Saturday afternoon Ricardo took Diego and Alexia to the hotel pool for a few hours while I napped with Marco.

On Sunday we went to church with Aaron and Helen (they were visiting his parents and her sisters there) which was awesome and then out to a fun lunch with them before we hit the road to return home in the afternoon.

As Ricardo was unloading the car, he spotted these beauties. This is right on our backyard, next to the playset. They hung out for quite awhile and it was so neat to watch them in the backyard.

New jammies

I bought all three kids matching jammies this week. Marco was asleep for the photo shoot, but Diego and Alexia melted our hearts:

Chattanooga

I've uploaded the pictures from only one camera so will just share about the first day of our trip for now. We arrived in Chattanooga around 3:30pm on Friday. The road trip there was great as Marco slept for about an hour and then just chatted away the rest of the trip. As soon as we arrived, we pulled right into the parking lot of the Children's Museum. We have been there before and it is awesome. Unfortunately, we didn't have a lot of time there before it closed, but we still had a blast. The kids LOVED it.
After the museum we headed straight to dinner at an amazing Italian restaurant. Ricardo and I each had some of the best pasta we've ever had. All three kids shared a pasta dish and really enjoyed it. Ricardo and I have always enjoyed eating out together and used to go on a lot more dates before Marco was born and even more before we had kids. Our dinner out on Friday felt like a special date night, but with three little ones in tow. We didn't get to enjoy deep conversation, but we did get to enjoy the wonderful blessing of sharing a family together.

At the children's museum, Ricardo took D & A to dig for dinosaur bones while I took Marco to the baby section. Here he is driving a hot rod!

They sat us at their huge communal table which was so cool!

The kids loved the dripping wax on the table behind Ricardo

Can't have a date night without an ice cream treat. Diego thought it was the coolest thing ever that we were having ice cream at 7:00pm, their normal bedtime!