Constant Blog Changes

I think I've finally decided on a blog layout and color scheme that I like. I don't love it, but to be honest, I'm tired of messing with it for now. The overhang on the header is going to drive me crazy, but I don't have time to fix it. I have a two year old knocking on his bedroom door and saying, "Mommeeeeeee." A 45 minute nap? Really?? What happened to 2 hours? Guess I didn't tire him out enough today.

*Okay, I lied. NOW I've chosen a color scheme. Blue to represent the house full of boys, and then a little bit of red to represent the little bit of girl in this family.

Lizards

I've developed an irrational fear of lizards. If I see one outside, I can handle it just fine, as long as I don't get too close. But if one of those speedy little creatures happens to make it's way inside my home...I basically freak out.

Just my luck, these terrifying little reptiles have been finding a way into our home on a pretty frequent basis lately. I'd say we find one a week, or every 2 weeks. That's way too often in my book.

How the heck they are getting in, I have no idea. At first we thought it was the sliding door. But we've replaced it and they're still getting in. Then we thought it was through the fireplace because we accidentally left it open. It's closed now...and they're still getting in. So now we're thinking the front door. The front door needs major replacing. But that is very costly and we're just not at that project yet. At the bottom of the door, you can see some light coming through from the outside. I think that's how the lizards are getting in.

This past week, we've had 2 episodes. Marcelo took care of the second, as I stood and watched and tried not to scream. For the first episode, however, I was on my own. Well, Diego was there, but he was no help.

The lizard was in the fireplace. I grabbed a baby wipes box thinking I'd somehow get the lizard to get into the box, and then I'd take it outside. But he was too fast for me. I was pretty calm at first, just trying to make sure I didn't lose sight of him because the thought of having a lizard running loose in my house makes my skin crawl. Anyway, I couldn't catch the horrible little creature with the wipes box, so I got....gag...some salad tongs. It took a few minutes, but I was able to corner it in the fireplace and pick it up with the tongs. As soon as I got ahold of him, I heard a most unusual sound. A high pitched squealish scream. Coming from me. I was screaming like a girl! I've never in my life had that sound escape my lips. (Well, maybe once or twice making fun of girls who scream.) I'm just not a screamer. But the feeling of knowing that there was a disgusting lizard trapped in the clutches of my salad tongs sent shivers down my spine and caused me to scream. Diego thought the screaming was hilarious. I squealed a panicky squeal all the way to the sliding glass door (it's like 5 steps from the fireplace), opened the door as fast as I could, and then flung the lizard as far as I could. At that point, I finally stopped shrieking, and Diego stopped laughing. His delight from hearing his quiet mommy be so loud quickly faded and he began to realize that their was an air of fear coming off of me. His face changed from a smile to a confused look, and then he furrowed his eyebrows, shivered like the had the willies, and said, "Oooh, scary." I acted quickly because the last thing I want is for him to be afraid of lizards....purely for selfish reasons. I need him to learn to catch them for me. So I tried to change his view of what just happened by saying, "Yay! The lizard is with his family outside now. Bye lizard! Have fun with your family!" He bought it, thank goodness.

Seriously, though, thinking about this incident freaks me out all over again. I really think the fear is growing to be quite irrational. I didn't used to be this scared of them. But now, I'm terrified of them. What is wrong with me?

Oh, and I threw the salad tongs away, in case you're wondering.

Lina Daniella is here!

My cousin had her baby! She's sooooo cute! My poor cousin had a pretty bad birth experience...okay, let's just say it, it was horrible. But look what she has to show for it!!
Again, I say, she's sooo cute!

So here's the story as I've understood it. Andrea got to the hospital at 6am to be induced. Due to other mommies going into labor and having to be attended first, she didn't actually go in to get induced until about noon. They broke her water, and when that didn't result in enough contractions, she was put on pitocin (around 1pm). She dealt with contractions every 3 minutes until about 5pm, when the blessed anestesiologist gave her an epidural. She was 4cm at this point. She got a break from all the fun contractions until about 8:30pm when she started feeling them again. She asked for more epidural, but they said, nope, sorry, you're 10cm. At 9pm she started pushing. She pushed and pushed until she tore. And then they made her push some more. At 10:45pm, they said, sorry, c-section. At 11:10pm, Lina was born via c-section.

So my poor cousin got the worst of both worlds. She's doing much better now. Both Mommy and Baby are doing great! Nursing is going really well, thank goodness. The last thing she needs after her difficult experience is a tough time nursing! They'll probably be home from the hospital today. I totally want to go hold Lina, but I'll have to contain myself until at least Thursday. (That's when I'm bringing her dinner.)

For more pictures, go here.

Face Paint

"Stop painting your face!"

That's what Diego said to me this morning when he saw me putting on blush.

Allergy Boy

It was bound to happen. Diego got ahold of Celo's milk today. It was my fault. I had put it in one of Diego's sippy cups because Celo is constantly trying to drink out of Diego's cups. I didn't put it high enough out of Diego's reach, so he grabbed it and drank some. Guess what happened after that.

Puking.

Puking.

And more puking.

Poor kid. He must have thrown up about 7 times. And then he broke out in a rash. It makes us so sad to see how incredibly allergic he is to milk. Just yesterday, some of Marcelito's milk spilled on the floor, and Diego touched it (even though I frantically told him not to, while I tried to wipe it up), and broke out in a rash. Just from touching it. And a couple of weeks ago, at playgroup, his cousin was eating Goldfish, and he took one. And just from that, he got a rash around his mouth. I wish I could ask everyone to not let their kids have those kinds of snacks around Diego. At least while he's too young to understand why he can't eat that stuff. But I feel like I can't ask that of them because it's MY problem to deal with, not theirs. Sometimes it makes me just not want to take him to playgroup until he's old enough to understand. But I can't shelter him and he has to learn.

Anyway, we dealt with today's reaction with good old Benadryl. It took away the rash within about an hour. Episodes like this make it very hard to hold on to the hope that he'll one day grow out of these allergies.

So the next step here is to buy Celo a completely different style of sippy cups. Well, as different as we can find. Our plan was going to be to just color code, for example, Diego was going to get all the orange cups (because it's his very favorite color), and Celo was going to get the blue ones. But that's not going to work. We'll have to find a different kind and let Diego know from the start that he can't drink out of them.

It's hard to think about what the future is going to be like. If he has these accidents while I'm able to be in control of his surroundings, what's going to happen when he goes off to school and I'm no longer in control? I'll tell you what's going to happen. He'll be wearing a big giant sign that says, "I'm HIGHLY allergic to..." (the long list of foods).

Oh, and it does not need to be pointed out that Diego should probably not be using sippy cups anymore. I know. But what can I do if he thinks it's fun to turn normal cups upside down and let all the liquid spill out?

Tone Deaf

I'm pretty sure Diego is tone deaf. Like, 90% sure.

With a mom who loves to sing, a dad who occasionally enjoys belting it out like Bocelli (that is how you spell it, I checked), two uncles who talk about trying out for American Idol every year, a grandma who is a frustrated latin singer, and a great aunt and great uncle with their own CDs, I thought the kid had a chance to be musically inclined.

But he got my dad's genes.

Sorry, Dad. You know it's true. You have many, many wonderful talents. But singing....not one of them. We all love you anyway.

We've tried Sing Sing Sing, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, the ABCs, and even Happy Birthday. He gets a few words, but the melody...not there. At all. Poor kid.

Marcelito - month by month

Little Marcelo is going to be 9 months old in 5 days, but I just got around to taking his 8 month pictures last week. It was the first time in awhile that I actually whipped out a sheet and really did a "photo shoot".

8 months - Sorry, I couldn't pick just one. I love the last one because he's like, "Are you serious, you're still taking pictures of me?"

And, just because I've never posted them and I feel like looking at them, I'll post a picture for each month of Marcelito's life. (Months 5 and 1 will be repeats because I've already included them in other posts.)

7 Months

6 Months

5 Months

4 Months - This is one of my all-time favorite pictures of Marcelito. The look on his face says, "That's right. I'm gorgeous. I know."

3 Months , 2 Months, 1 Month

The things kids say...in church.

So I guess you could say we've begun potty training. I'm not pushing it a whole lot yet, but Diego has definitely begun to show a lot of interest, so I'm just going to see how it goes.

Today's church meeting was quite eventful. We were just about to begin sacrament meeting, and the congregation was silent. Diego was sitting next to my mom in the pew behind me and Marcelo. Well, all of a sudden, he jumped up onto his pew, stood next to her, and really really loudly exclaimed, "Oh no! Pee pee coming out! Pee pee came out! Oh no!" I turned around in my pew (he was right behind me) and tried to shush him. I was like, "It's okay, Diego, shhhhh. Sit down." He ignored me, kept pointing at his diaper, and kept saying (I can't emphasize enough how loud it was), "Pee pee came out! My pee pee came out!" Marcelo was trying so hard not to bust out laughing. In our haste to try to get Diego to stop making such a scene, we didn't realize that Marcelito was climbing out of his infant carrier. He stood up in it and would have fallen right off the pew if I hadn't caught him in time.

I'm sure we looked like swell parents.

So similar, yet so different

Little Marcelo's personality is starting to show more and more. My calm, easy, baby, is turning into a crazy, hyper-active boy. He's hilarious.

A few things he does:

-He hears music and immediately starts to dance. He'll just bounce his little body around from the waist up, while making a really serious face.
-It is sooooooo funny to watch him play with cars. He'll sit and play with a little hot wheels car for 20 minutes straight. He just pushes it back and forth, back and forth and occasionally makes a little humming sound, which I'm pretty sure is supposed to be the engine, lol.
-He wants to play with everything Diego is playing with. If Diego is playing with trains, he wants to grab the train out of Diego's hand. It's not enough for me to give him his own train and set up his own little track. No. He wants the train that is in Diego's hand.
-If he sees a crayon and a piece of paper, he tries to use the crayon to write on the paper. I'm like, how do you know what that's for?? But I guess he's always watching everything Diego does, so he's learning things faster.
-He stares at his hands ALL.THE.TIME. He'll just wave one around in the air really slowly, twisting it and turning it, never taking his eyes off of it. Then he'll switch to the next hand and repeat. It's so cute. I remember Diego doing that for a little while, but Marcelito has been doing this for the past 4 months.

When I was pregnant with Celo, I used to tell people, "I hope this one is calmer than his brother." And people would say, "Well, he might start out that way, but he'll quickly be corrupted by his big brother and become just like him." And they were right. They're a couple of little monkeys. But Marcelito is actually worse! He's going to be even more of a daredevil than Diego.

These are the ways he's different from Diego.
1. He puts EVERYTHING in his mouth. Diego never did that. Beginning at an early age (like as soon as he could grab something very small), Diego would always show me everything he found. If he found a little piece of lint on the floor, it did not go into his mouth. He'd pick it up and show it to me or give it to me. Marcelito on the other hand, puts everything he finds in his mouth. He's eaten crayons, grass, dirt, tree bark, you name it. I try to tell him, "Not in your mouth," which he's starting to understand. He just looks at me, yells at me, and throws whatever he has in his hand, like he's saying, "FINE!" Which brings me to #2.
2. He has a temper! (Can't imagine where he gets it from.) He's a fiesty one. I have to try so hard not to laugh when I tell him "no", and he yells at me! He just looks at me with this mean little face (which is adorable, by the way) and says, "Ahhhhh!!!!" Cracks me up. I don't remember Diego being like that. Diego didn't get a temper until he was a lot older.
3. He's soooo independent! He'd be happy to play by himself for hours if I let him. He just explores, explores, explores. He'll entertain himself forever just crawling around the house and exploring. He'll even wander into a dark room and not care one bit if I'm anywhere to be found, as long as there is something interesting for him to get his hands on. This is miraculous, considering the fact that Diego is 2 years old and STILL can't entertain himself for long periods of time. (And by long, I mean more than 2 minutes.)
4. He's attached to me. Diego was never attached to me. If someone else was holding him and I tried to take him back, he would cling to whoever was holding him. But Marcelito knows his mommy and no matter who's holding him, if I come by and try to take him, he'll always throw his arms out to me. I love it.

Even though they have their differences, my two boys also have a lot of similarities. So far, Marcelito is reaching all the major milestones at about the same time as Diego (actually, just a little sooner). He's crawling and pulling himself up on everything. He tries to climb everything he can, which reminds me of Diego at his age. They're little tiny boys, but they have incredibly strong legs!

This morning, Marcelito got into my diaper bag and found a little container of formula. He got it open and dumped out 16 oz worth of formula all over himself and the carpet. I had just gone into Diego's room with him to get him changed and ready to go. I came back out to find white powder everywhere and lost all hopes of arriving to my desination on time. That's what happens when you leave an 8 month old unattended for 2 seconds.

This post is mainly about the little man of the house, but I'll end it with one thing about the older little man: Diego went pee pee on the potty two times yesterday!! So for two days in a row, he went twice. I'm pretty excited about it.

Okay, he's knocking on his bedroom door. Naptime is over early today.

First Real Entry

Hello friends and family!



This is the my first real entry on my new blog. All of the previous entries were copied from my old one that I started as a student at the University of Miami when I was 19. I didn't want to lose any of the entries I wrote about my life with Marcelo, so I copied everything, starting from the first entry I wrote as a married woman.


So why do I blog? Because I love that it's a convenient way to keep a record of our family. I can write about milestones, post pictures, and not worry that something will happen to it over time, like I do with my paper journal. And on top of that, it's an easy way to keep my friends and family updated.


Why the name? Marcelo's family calls him Marce (Marceh, not Marcy) and my family calls me Nati. So I combined the two. Not very creative, I know.


I must warn you, most of what I write is for myself. This comes from the fact that I've been writing in it for years without anyone (well, just one person) reading it. But now my family has become more spread out, and I've decided it's time to share it.

Warning #2: I babble incoherently a lot. I love to write, and more often than not, I don't know when to stop.

You've been warned.

A Day in the Life

Ever wonder what goes on in the daily life of a mother of a baby and a toddler? I do. I wonder all the time how other moms fill their days. Mostly because I need ideas!! I love to hear how other moms entertain their kids, keep up on their house, and just how they make their days productive.

I feel like Mom of the Year today. Well, not right this second, because right this second I am letting my 8 month old scream in his crib. He will not go to sleep. It's naptime. Doesn't he know what he's supposed to do during naptime? Sleep. So Mommy can have a break. Just a tiny break. Please, please ,please, go to sleeeeeeeep.

Back to why I win Mom of the Year today. Diego and I had so much fun today. I planned a day jam-packed full of new and fun things for us to do together. I had fallen off the creative mom wagon for awhile and wasn't feeling good about how we were filling our days. Too much tv, too much trying to do other stuff and letting Diego run wild doing whatever he wanted (which usually meant just following me around the house whining, asking me to stop doing whatever I was doing so I could play with him..."Stop it Mommy!"). I was feeling bad about not teaching him much. My excuse was that I was busy with lots of other things, and I was sick to boot. But now I'm back. I'm trying to really organize my days again.

Wait.....Yes! Marcelito stopped crying. Woo hoo!

So this was our morning:

6:45am - Marcelito woke up. Yeah. He NEVER wakes up that early.
6:45am - 7:45am - Brought Marcelito into our bed and gave him a bottle and tried really hard to keep him quiet so he wouldn't wake Diego.
7:45am - Diego woke up.
7:45am - 8am - After changing his diaper (okay okay, Marcelo changed it), put Diego in his high chair to eat breakfast.
8am - 8:30am - Let Diego watch cartoons, Marcelito played in his excersaucer, Mommy played on the computer and ate breakfast.
8:30am - 9am - Played in the living room with the boys. THEN, Diego said he needed to go potty, so I sat him down on the potty and he just sat there. I reminded him that if he went pee pee, he would get skittles. Still nothing. I said, "I'll give you Jelly Beans!" And he pushed out a tiny bit of pee. It wasn't much but it was SOMETHING! So he got jellybeans.
9am - 9:45am - Marcelito went down for a nap. Diego and I sat at the dining room table and played with dry noodles (to learn how to sort and count) and then glued them to paper. Diego loooved sticking his hands in the glue. I came up with the brilliant idea of writing numbers and letters with glue, and then making Diego tell me what they were before I would let him smear the glue around. I point at numbers all the time and ask him, "What number is that?" Even though he knows how to count, he doesn't always tell me the right number. That is because he never had a good enough reason to. Today, he did. Knowing that he would get to stick his chubby little fingers in the gooey messy glue made him tell me all the numbers and letters I wrote. I was shocked to learn that he knows the letters A-L (With the exception of H, I, and J.) Then we ripped up Parenting magazines to make a collage. Diego's collage consisted of "Mr. Bear", a car, Thomas the train, flowers, and stars.
9:45am - 10:00am Marcelito woke up. I gave Diego some sugary juice (for peeing purposes), then turned on some crazy music and we all danced around.
10am - 10:30am - I gave the floor a quick sweep, but then realized it was really dirty, so I moved all the chairs onto the carpet in a line (like a train) and had Diego play on it while I mopped the dining room and kitchen floor. He then helped to dry it by standing on a towel and moving it around.
10:30am - 10:45am - I asked Diego if he wanted to go pee pee on the potty. He said no. I said, "Do you want Jelly Beans?" He said, "Yes, pee pee potty!" So I took him in and he sat down, then got up, then sat down, then got up. I said, "Are you going to go pee or not?" He said yes, but then got up again. So I said, "Okay, come on, let's put on a diaper." He said, "Noooo! Mommy read a book." So I sat in front of him and started reading him a Winnie the Pooh book. I changed all the words to, "Pooh and Tiger and Piglet want Diego to go potty." He thought that was pretty cool, and after about 2 minutes, I heard the glorious sound of pee entering the potty. I acted like I had just won a million dollars and gave him a handful of jelly beans and skittles. I told him we were going to the store to buy more candy. Then I had him call Tata and Daddy to tell them the good news.
10:45am - 11am - I got the boys and myself ready to go to the store to buy candy.
11am - 12pm - Out and about buying candy, picking up prescriptions, etc etc. Diego chose sour worms and more jelly beans as his potty time treat.
12pm - 12:45pm - Played on the back porch with watercolors. Diego loved it. Marcelito tried to eat everything in sight.
12:45pm - 1pm - The boys played inside while I got lunch ready.
1pm - 1:30pm - Lunch
1:30pm - 1:45pm - Got boys ready for naps
1:45pm - NAPTIME!!!!!

It was quite a successful morning. Now I get to take a little time to myself. If I really want to win Mom/Wife of the Year today, I should stop playing on the computer and should tidy up the living room, kitchen, fold some laundry, and figure out what I'm making for dinner. Oh wait, nevermind. Dinner is going to be easy tonight. Leftover pasta, and then I'll just sprinkle some seasonings and lemon juice on a few tilapia's, steam some veggies, and call it good. I have enrichment tonight. It's Game Night. Should be fun.

I just re-read this entry and it sounds quite braggy. But you know what? I have soooooooooo many days where I feel like I did squat, and like a shlub, and like I could be doing so much more as a mother and a housewife! So why not pat myself on the back when I feel like I've done a good job?

Pat, pat, pat.

A Haircut, A Belly, and A Daredevil

I got bangs yesterday. I haven't had bangs since I was 7 years old. I don't like bangs. Well, some people look good with bangs. I just didn't think I was one of them. But I had no choice. The hair that I lost in the first months of breastfeeding is now growing back. This unsightly re-growth was showing all along my hairline and driving me INSANE. So I gave in and got bangs.

At first, I freaked. The lady who cut them styled them to look SO incredibly 80s, I wanted to die. But I went home, took a flat iron to them, and immediately felt better. Until Marcelo came home. He's not a fan. He tried to hide it, but I could see through the fake smile. Once he realized that I was aware that I didn't look great, and that I understood that I looked like a flashback to the 80s, he could not stop cracking 80s jokes. For the rest of the day, he took every opportunity to say things like, "Let me teach you something about the 21st century", and "Wanna listen to some Debbie Gibson on your boombox?" Don't worry, it wasn't mean. It was quite hilarious.

Today is day 2, and they're starting to grow on me. A lot. I feel like even if the rest of my hair is in a ratty ponytail, as long as my bangs are styled, I look put together. It's actually a little boost to my self-esteem. Looking like a shlub everyday in your old t-shirt, jeans, no make-up, and messy ponytail can wear on you after awhile. And today I feel like I actually look kind of cute, despite the little-to-no effort. (But let's be serious on the no make-up issue: I'm wearing blush. It's a must.)

In other news, my cousin is 39 weeks preggo. I saw her and her cute belly today. I can't wait for her little baby girl to arrive! I'm so excited! I'm trying not to be so annoying and talk to her too much about what she's about to go through, but I want so badly to just talk talk talk about the miracle she's about to experience. I get teary eyed just thinking about those first few days after Diego was born. I was so full of adrenaline and just pure joy. It's a feeling that can't be described and that is known only to those who have experienced it. It's just amazing. A baby brings sooooo much love into your life. A love that you've never felt before. Knowing that this tiny child depends on you and has been sent to your care because God knows you can do it is a wonderful feeling. It's terrifying, but also wonderful. My life after kids is so much more "full". I don't know what other word to use there. I don't know why I'm feeling so sappy about it right now. Probably because I'm just so dang excited for my cousin to experience what it is to be a mom. I know she's going to be amazing. She's already sooo good with my boys. She and her husband are going to be such good parents. Yay! In less than a week, little Lina will be here!

I want to write about one more thing. My boys are cracking me up lately. I love seeing Diego and Celo play together. Celo is getting so big! He's 8 months old. He's crawling, pulling himself up on everything, and starting to cruise. He tries to play with everything Diego plays with. He always wants to be wherever Diego is. It's kind of scary sometimes because he doesn't really understand that he can't walk yet. So he'll stand up by the coffee table, and then when he sees Diego walk away, he tries to follow him, and falls. He's going to be a little daredevil. Just like Daddy.

I'm Good

Going pee pee in the potty was a one time thing. Diego hasn't wanted to go again. Every time I ask him if he needs to go, he says, "No, I good." That's his answer for everything these days.

Diego do you want more breakfast?
No, I good.

Diego, do you need a diaper change?
No, I good.

Yesterday, I thought, where did that come from? Who has he heard say that a lot? A second later, I said to Marcelo, "Babe, are you still hungry?" To which he replied, "No, Babes, I'm good." And Diego the Parrot started saying, "No, Babes, I good."

And then today, I had him make a birthday card for my cousin, which he thought was great fun. I said, "Are you done? Do you want to color it more?" And of course, he answered, "No, I good."

And yes, I already had a discussion with Marcelo about not teaching Diego incorrect English anymore.

Hmmmmm, do I want to write more? No, I good.

Diego went pee pee on the potty!

About two hours ago, Marcelo was playing with the boys in our hallway, while I was chatting on the phone with my mom. Diego said to him, "Uh oh, Daddy. Pee pee." And started tugging at his diaper. Marcelo asked him if he wanted to go pee pee on the potty and he said yes. He ran into the bathroom, took his diaper off, sat down on the potty and started going pee pee!!! Marcelo started cheering and called for me, so I came running in and started cheering and clapping. I put the phone to his ear so my mom could also go nuts. Then I hung up and ran out to the kitchen, grabbed a bag of Skittles, and went back to the bathroom to give Diego a handful.

I really really hope that when he wakes up from his nap, he wants to do this again. I've tried getting him to sit on the potty any time he's been interested in it, but all he's ever done is sit on it and play. I'm a tad bit sad that I wasn't in there with him when he finally decided to do it, but that tiny bit of sadness is overpowered by the fact that I'm soooooooo thrilled that he actually did it!!!! Yay!!!!!! We really think it has to do with the fact that he just saw his cousin Reagan go pee pee on the potty yesterday.

Half of me is like, YIPEE. But the other half is like, Aw man! Does this mean I have to hardcore potty train now? I am sooooo not looking forward to cleaning up a bazillion accidents. Oh well. Bring it on!

Easter!

Easter was over a week ago, but then I went to Texas, so I haven't been able to post pictures.

I was sooo excited to dress the boys because while my grandma was here, she made them matching vests. Sometimes it's hard to get excited about dressing boys, because there are so many cute things for girls! But there are some really adorable things for boys, too. They're just harder to find.

Anyway, so my wonderful grandma agreed to make vests for my boys. It was really fun to go out together and look for the material and the buttons. I really love the buttons. Too bad I'm not great at sewing. Honestly, I know how to sew, but I would just rather not. I don't enjoy it. If I must, for like, Halloween or something, I'll do it. But other than that, the sewing machine never gets taken out.

Thankfully, my grandma is great at sewing. Everything she does with her hands is seriously quality work. She's amazing.

Here are some pictures of her little works of art (the vests) and mine (the boys). :)

Cracking up at Daddy

It was time to go to church, but Diego wanted to dance:

The week before Easter, I had Diego color some eggs. He had a lot of fun with it. Thank you, Dollar Store. Here are some pictures. To be fair, I'll also post some of Marcelito:

Hoo-ah!

Here are a few pics of the Texas trip.

Family Reunion - All of us at the picnic for the soldiers' families. David wearing Sergio's gear. "Grenade!" Me wearing Sergio's gear (for about 5 seconds before someone had to help me because I was going to crumble) Sergio next to his bunk. It's Lieutenant Tesho Forez!!
I got to talk to Sergio on the phone today. It's sooooo sad to say goodbye to him for so long. I didn't think it would hit me as hard as it has. I'm used to living far away from him. But still...I'm worried about my little lieutenant in "the desert". Hmmmmm, what should I pack in his first care package?