Time for Summer!

School's out! Summer has begun. Celo graduated from preschool. I loved the preschool we went to last year, way more than the one we were at this year if I'm being honest, but last year's school didn't do a cap and gown graduation ceremony. So I really got a kick out of seeing Celo dressed in cap and gown. It was adorable. Want to see? Of course you do.

He wasn't too excited about receiving a "diploma".

What is he doing? Showing off his balancing skills? I don't know. He's just being Celo.

After the ceremony I picked him up in his classroom and took a couple more shots before he had to return the cap and gown.

Really don't like this picture of me, but I'm guessing that Celo won't care about that when he looks at this years down the road.

With Grandma. :)

With Tata and Tato. :)

Marcelo had school that night and wasn't able to go. I recorded the whole thing so he could see it afterwards. At one point during the ceremony I teared up. I know I looked like one of those moms that tears up because her baby is growing up, but that was totally not it. I teared up because I just felt overwhelmingly grateful for Marcelo and all that he does for me and the kids. I was sad that he was missing one of their events for the first time, and just couldn't stop thinking about all that he's doing for the sake of our family right now. He's working full time, going to school in the evening, and working a part time job at night (that's basically what this CordLite stuff has become. It's almost midnight and he just got done working on it.). On top of that he finds the time to help out around the house doing things my pregnant body can't do, plays with the kids, and even makes them signs like this when they come home on their last day of school:

I try to make life as easy for him as I can with all he's got going on, and I tell him everyday how proud of him I am. But that night at the preschool, I had a quick little, "My poor guy! I wish things were easier right now" moment.

And now the summer has begun and it's off to a great start. We're doing theme weeks again this summer and we're starting off with Dinosaur Week. The kids have been loving it so far, which makes me feel like the effort has been worth it. Tomorrow morning when they wake up, they'll find some fun worksheets to do, which I'm sure they'll love, and then once their chores are done, we'll do a dino art activity, involving glue and pasta. I want to soak up these summer days and get the most out of our time together before the baby comes and changes our family dynamic. Obviously, a new baby will be a blessing and I know the kids will love her, but it'll still be a change and a transition for everyone.

If tomorrow morning is going to be a good one, I better get to bed!

Missing: My Mind

Yesterday I left the house to go to mutual (youth program at church), and as I was driving I thought, "Why am I so comfortable?" That's when I looked down and realized that I was still wearing my slippers that I wear around the house. At least the 12 year old girls I'm in charge of just laughed at me and said it was cute. When I told Marcelo later, he was like, "Wow. That really shows you're pregnant." I've been trying to tell him for 7 months. My latest approach is that when he asks me to do something, I say, "Nope. If you don't write it on the calendar, it doesn't exist." (My calendar/schedule thingy I made myself for Mother's Day. It is REALLY helping me remember things.) I'm not trying to be mean. I just know that there is no way I will remember if he just says in passing, "Hey, tomorrow can you..." By the time tomorrow rolls around, chances are I will have completely forgotten that conversation. 

Will my mind come back one day? Or is this for forever? 

Introducing the CordLite!

Dear friends and family,
Marcelo and his cousin Irv have invented a really cool product for the iPhone. It's called the CordLite and it's a charging cable that lights up when you touch it. No more fumbling around in the dark trying to plug in your phone! They need financial backing to start manufacturing it and selling it, so they've put it on a website called Kickstarter, where anyone interested in it can pre-order it at a discounted price. But it will only make it to manufacturing if it reaches a certain financial goal. Please please please, I am asking you to pass it along to everyone you know so they can reach their goal. You never know who of your friends or family would be interested in buying one! Just give them this link: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/scrappile/cordlite-illuminated-charger-cable-for-your-iphone?ref=category. Even if you don't want to buy one but want to show your support, you can donate as low as $1. They will eventually be offering the same product with MicroUSB for other smartphones. There's a place on the website where you can let them know if you'd be interested in that.

Thank you in advance for helping get the word out!

The Talkiest Girl on the Block

Wow, this is my 5th post in May. That is a record. I've been in a blogging mood.

This little girl is growing way too fast. She says or does stuff everyday and I think, "I need to record that!" And then I don't. So today I'm recording a few Eliana tidbits. The boys love when I sit at the computer with them and read them old blog posts so they can laugh at the funny things they used to say. I want Eliana to be able to do that one day, too!

Eliana has by far been my best talker. Perhaps it's a third child thing, or maybe just her personality. She wants to do everything the boys do, including say all the things they say. She has her own words for a lot of things. She just decides on a name for something, and even if I say it the normal way, she still chooses to say it her way. For instance, today I took her to "swim class". But in her mind, it's "water class". I put her bathing suit on her and say, "We're going to swim class today." And she says, "Yay! Water class!" 

Up until the beginning of May I was taking her to a music class at the church called "Music Makers". Because of a song that the kids sing right at the beginning, where they all say Hello to one another, Eliana calls it, "Hello Makers". The way she says it makes me want to never call it Music Makers again. 

That reminds me of an Eliana story. Everyday she wants to know what we're doing that day after we drop the boys off at school. She starts going through the list: "Water class? Hello makers? Ellie (her bff), Tata? Gamma?" So one day I told her, "Today we're going to music makers, but first we're going to stop at the bank to see Tato and Tata." We pulled into the bank parking lot and as I started to unstrap her from her seat she looked at me very seriously and said, "Mommy. Hello makers. Fie (five) minutes." Like she was telling me, "Okay, you have 5 minutes to be at the bank and then we're going to hello makers." So bossy, this one.

Every time I take her to Publix with me, I let her get a free cookie so she'll let me do the grocery shopping in peace. Yesterday one of my friends was going to watch the kids for a bit, but when I went to drop them off, I said, "Eliana, you can stay here and play with your friends, or you can come with me to Publix." She said, "Pubwix. Cookie." Priorities, you know.

She likes to compliment me on my jewelry and clothes. She'll see me put in a pair of earrings and she'll say, "Airrings, pretty. Nice." That's the phrase: Pretty. Nice. And then she points at her own pretty, nice earrings.

She recently got a new pair of flip flops and for the next few days if we tried to put other shoes on her she whined, "Noooo! New shoes!" I thought it was funny, but Marcelo was like, "Don't encourage this!" It's out of my hands! She comes from a long line of women who love shoes. There's really nothing I can do about that.

The other day I wore an open shrug type of thing over a shirt. Even though it was short sleeved, I guess it looked like a sweater or jacket to her because she saw that it was over a shirt. This was our conversation:

Eliana: Mommy, jacket?
Me: Mommy's wearing a jacket? Yes, I guess Mommy looks like she's wearing a jacket.

Eliana: Nana shirt.

Me: Eliana's wearing a shirt?
Eliana: Yeah. Celo shirt. Diego shirt.

Me: Celo and Diego are wearing shirts, too?

Eliana: Yeah. Pants. New shoes.

This may seem like absolutely nothing, but I couldn't help laughing to myself about the full conversation we just had. I love these little conversations so much.

I've gotten used to the fact that she talks so much and it has made me spoiled. I was watching a girl her age the other day and the girl was crying because she hurt herself. Her older sister and I were trying to figure out how she hurt herself because we didn't see anything happen. She wouldn't tell me what hurt or anything, but when Eliana heard me asking, she said, "Door. Face." Apparently the door hit her in the face. I totally take for granted that I can ask her all kinds of things and she'll tell me, maybe in few words, but enough that she definitely gets her point across. 

She's very polite about saying no to us. It's hilarious. If she's being a handful and I say, "Eliana, do you want to go to timeout?" She says, "No, tank you." Everything is no thank you. On Sundays as soon as we start putting a dress on her, she knows that means we're going to church and that she'll have to go to nursery. So she says, "No, tank you, nurswee. I don't want it." She always ends up having fun, but sometimes the whole way to church she tells us, "No, thank you, nurswee."

Whenever she goes anywhere without me she gives me a recap of what she did. If it's nursery at church, she'll say, "Snowman. Pway. Color paper." So I know she sang the snowman song, played, and colored on paper. If she goes to Tata's house, she'll say, "Pway Tata. Tato yogurt. Potty." She played with Tata, Tato gave her yogurt, and she went potty." She'll go to Grandma's and then tell me, "Dingo. Punny. Pway Gamma. Bwead yummy." So I know she saw Dingo, who she thinks is very funny, she played with grandma, and ate grandma's yummy bread. 

She gets way too much attention and it's already going to her head. At dinner one night she pointed to herself and said, "Nana cute." She mostly calls herself Nana, but sometimes she says "Eli-nana." The boys love it. She also loves to make everyone around her laugh. She's a total clown and show off. She'll make a face or dance around and then she'll tell us, "Nana punny." 

Lately she adds "Kay??" To the end of everything when she's trying to boss us around and get her way. Like saying "okay" is going to make us just agree with her. I was getting her out of the car and heading into the house and she said, "Nana goo-girl. Tweat, Kay?" Roughly translated: Eliana was a good girl, so you're going to give her a treat, okay? How can I resist? Sometimes she'll take something away from the boys and give them her bossy look where she just nods at them and then says, "My turn, Kay?" They are much more immune to her cuteness than I am.

She loves to sing and has made up names for all her favorite songs. Mostly we sing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam, Popcorn Popping, I'm bringing home a baby bumble bee, and Wheels on the Bus. But to her they are Jesus Beam, Popcorn Nose, Bumble Hurt, and Beep beep beep. She says Popcorn Nose because at one point in the song you put your hands up to your nose to "smell" the popcorn ball. I guess that makes her associate it with her nose? And then in the bumble bee song, at one point you say, "Ouch! It stung me." That's why it's the bumble hurt song. And the horn on the bus goes beep beep beep. Duh.

That's all I can think of for today. Writing this all out is almost making me want to go wake her up from her nap. But then I remember what a giant beast she is when she doesn't get enough sleep. And by enough sleep I mean 2.5 to 3 hour long naps. Daily. If only I could join her!

 

Mother's Day Pictures

I woke up Sunday morning to the my boys pulling the overs off of me at 7:42 saying, "Mommy! Wake up! Happy Mother's Day! We made you breakfast! 7:42 is 42 minutes longer than I usually get to sleep during the week. On weekends sometimes they let me sleep 'till 8am...occasionally 8:30. But on Mother's Day they were too excited to start the day. Eliana came in right after them and said, "Hiiii Mommy! Mere! Bekfast!" I LOVE how she says "Come here." She motions with her hand and says, "Mere." It's adorable. 

I sat down at the table, which they had decorated with their drawings of flowers, a little vase with flowers they picked, and cards they made for me. I was served a delicious fruit salad drizzled with condensed milk, and a glass of orange/pineapple juice. Marcelo knows that he must stop me from trying to eat eggs this pregnancy because every time I've tried, I've gotten sick. After the last episode I asked him to stop me the next time I wanted them, so with that in mind, he made a yummy egg-less breakfast. He bought fruit that we never get because it's just so pricey, and we discovered that Eliana, Miss-I-Hate-All-Fruit, is actually just high class and loves blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries. So basically any fruit that comes in a tiny container and costs $3.98. 

After breakfast the kids gave me the gifts they picked out: A basket from Diego (he knows I like to organize things), a "book" bag from Celo (for when we go to the library to pick out books), and a bar of chocolate from Eliana (she shares my love for it). Marcelo gave me a beautiful card and a promise to finish our fence. :)  It was great!

When we were ready for church, I asked Marcelo to take a picture, and he did so without a single grumble, which is in and of itself a present to me. The boys were so willing to sit and smile. Eliana, not so much. But just LOOK at her dress and silver shoes. Oh my goodness. My mom bought it for her. I love it.

Then the boys were like, "Let's do a kissing picture!" Eliana fought it at first but finally gave in and allowed her brother to kiss her cheek. And now this is one of my new favorite pictures.

Then I handed the camera to Diego and had him take this picture. He was soooo excited to get to hold my camera, since that never ever happens. He said, "Maybe I'm ready for a new camera." Um, no, my little 6 year old. Keep dreaming. He did a great job, though. Even if Marcelo and I looked at this picture and saw our ages glaring back at us. And the 23 pounds I've gained thus far. I have 11 weeks of pregnancy left, so I will surely be passing my record of 28 pounds gained. 

And this was my present to myself. I went out on Saturday night and bought what I needed to do my own version of a project that I saw on pinterest. It looks better in person. The frame is dark brown, and the scrapbook paper inside matches perfectly with the back splash in our kitchen. I've already started using it and I love it! Hopefully it will help me be less forgetful and more organized. I posted it on pinterest and so far it's been pinned 83 times. That was fun to see. Now we'll just see how long it'll take me to tackle my next project which is frames for the toy room so the kids can display their art. Diego is dying to play with my dry erase board so I want to hurry and work on something for him so he doesn't touch mine! Plus I've been promising them since we moved into this house that I would give them a place to display their artwork in the toy room. That was a year ago. 

Lastly, we went over to my aunt-in-law's house after church to celebrate with Marcelo's side of the family. (My mom is out of town.) It was great to be with family and eat good food. I'm so grateful for my mom, mother-in-law, and the gift of being a mom!

On Being a Mother

We have an updated family photo! When Marcelo came home from work yesterday I had our outfits laid out so we could ask his cousin (who lives down the street) to come take a quick picture. Not the greatest background, since there was some lawn care that needed to be done in our backyard, so I cropped it like so:

I wasn't worried about getting more than one shot because this picture will need to be updated in just a few months. My Marcelo's look so much alike, don't they?

So tomorrow is Mother's Day. I have a love/hate relationship with Mother's Day. On the one hand, I'm happy to celebrate my mom and mother-in-law and say thank you for all they do. I'm also happy to take time to think about how grateful I am to be a mother. On the other hand, it's easy to go to church and listen to the talks about mothers and end up feeling like I'm lacking or giving myself a hard time for not being better at x or y aspects of motherhood. It's also one of those days that is kind of hyped up but then it's not anything like you hoped it would be, especially if your kids end up throwing up all over your brand new house all day. (See last year's Mother's Day post.) This year, my sweet husband has been thanking me and telling me how much he appreciates me for days. Today he tried to surprise me with a prenatal massage at a spa (let the record show), but I turned it down. Yes, that did sound absolutely lovely, but it would've been hard to enjoy when I know that money can be used on things we need just a little bit more. So I traded it for an at home massage (he's got magic hands that help my aching shoulders and back), and a piece of fence. We've got one section of fence we need in order to have a completely fenced in yard, and I decided that it was totally worth it to give up an afternoon of being pampered for a whole summer of knowing my kids are safely enclosed in our backyard. I'm very excited about it! I think Marcelo had a proud moment where he felt like he had taught me so much about being "practical". ;)

In honor of Mother's Day, I'd like to write a little about each of my kids and what it means to be their mother.

Diego - Being Diego's mom means getting kisses and hugs on a daily basis. It means being in awe of how quickly he picks up anything from reading, to math, to new dance moves, to figuring out how to work electronics. It means constantly having him at the forefront of my mind when going anywhere where they are serving food, so that I can make sure he has something comparable and safe to eat. It means having to be on my toes when it comes to keeping him entertained because he is a ball of energy and relies heavily on others to keep him occupied. It means enjoying new milestones as they happen because as the oldest child, he brings most of the "firsts" into our lives. It means being constantly amazed at the sweet little spirit that was sent to our care.

Celo - Being Celo's mom means laughing and laughing at the way his funny little mind works. It means being in awe of how similar he is to his daddy in so many ways. It means having to be on my toes to stop his shenanigans in their tracks because he's so quick to come up with new ways to be reckless. It means being thankful that he loves to eat vegetables. It means learning everything there is to know about tractors, or dogs, or whatever his current fascination is because he soaks up new information like a sponge and retains it so well. It means knowing that he needs hugs and reassurance even though he tries to act tough and uncaring when really he is by far my most sensitive child.

Eliana - Being Eliana's mom means melting at cuteness on a regular basis. It means constantly being shocked by how smart and hilarious she is. It means having to watch my every move because I know she'll be right there to copy it. It means witnessing how clear it is that boys and girls are very different right from the beginning. It means forgetting the names I have for things (like swim class) and calling it the names she makes up for them (like "water class"). It means having a helper around the house as she follows me from room to room happily helping me with chores. It means digging deep into my well of patience as she refuses to eat almost anything I put in front of her. It means falling in love over and over again.

Baby #4 - Being a pregnant mommy means feeling kicks and wiggles and being amazed at the miracle of bringing a child into the world. It means being sleepy all the time, achy more often than not, and beyond excited to meet this little person and see how she fits into our family.

Being a mom is oh so very hard and oh so very worth it.

26 Weeks

When I was pregnant with Diego, I took a picture every 2 weeks starting at 18 weeks. This time around, my first shot is at 26 weeks. My how things change.

Pregnancy update: This little one moves a lot, especially when I lay down at night. I looove feeling her kick and wiggle. Also, I've started getting heartburn. Not as bad as with Eliana, which leads me to believe that Baby Girl #2 has less hair than her Rapunzel big sis. My back aches allll the time. That hasn't happened until 8 or 9 months the other times. And the top of my belly aches whenever I sit for more than 15 minutes, making me feel like I have to stretch it out. It's weird how much more achy I feel this time around. It's a reminder that I'm not 22 anymore. The jeans I'm wearing in the picture above are the only item of maternity clothing that I did not get rid of after I had Eliana. I loooved these jeans in my other pregnancies and wore them up until the end. This time, however, I'll probably get to wear them for another week or so and then it's just going to get dangerous. I could bust a seam. None of this is a complaint, I promise. Just recording little tidbits about this pregnancy.

I'm pretty sure my memory will never recover after this. I am unbelievably forgetful. The other day, I was asked what kind of car I was driving and I completely forgot the name of the car. It was Marcelo's Lincoln LS and my mind just went blank. I was like...um, it's white...an Infinity? No, that's not it. I'm fairly certain I used to be intelligent.

We have exactly zero names picked out. It's possible that I'm in denial that I have to choose a name. My days are so full and busy that I just don't even think about it! Maybe in the summer when I'm not running around on a crazy schedule I'll start to think about it some more. But honestly, I doubt that I'll stress about it too much until a couple of weeks before my scheduled c-section date. I'd like to go to the hospital with a handful of names to choose from. And even then, I might just let the boys decide. They're super opinionated about it and I don't have my heart set on a name, so why not? I really just don't know this time around. I had a dream that I had her (she had a good amount of light brown hair) and I was holding her and saying, "What's your name?? Tell me your name!!" My c-sec will probably be no later than August 3rd, so no matter what, she'll have to have a name by August 6th-ish when I leave the hospital. So no need to stress about it today!

Sunday Morning Surprise

Last Sunday the boys did the cutest thing. They woke us up at 7:30 (that wasn’t the cute part) and whispered, “You have to get up! We have a surprise for you!” They were so excited, so we rolled out of bed and walked into the living room to find this:

 

They exclaimed, “We made you breakfast! And we decorated the table! Surprise!” It was a giant mess, but so very sweet! I took the above picture with no flash so you could get the full effect of the “ambiance.” They turned on just the living room lamps for a romantic feel. I’m guessing that was Diego’s idea since he’s just like my mom and loves all things romantic, like candlelit dinners and relaxing background music. He had his CD player playing a lullaby CD that we used to play for him when he was a baby. That boy is going to make some girl very happy one day, haha! Now for the details:

The table had several of the latest books we’ve gotten from the library on display. They’re mostly dog books. Like, dog encyclopedias. They’re obsessed. They made little block tower centerpieces and a basket full of toy balls and easter eggs. They also put out the straw holder….I guess in case we needed more straws in our cups? They put out their new garage sale finds: Zhu zhu pets. And they put out colorful paper as placemats. The finishing touch was that so we would know where we were supposed to sit, they put out our sunglasses. You can see mine right above the white phone. They gave us each a phone (mine was real, Marcelo’s was not), in case we needed to “make a phone call”. In the bottom corner of the page you can see a while sheet of paper. It said, “You may draw whatever you want.”

They thought of everything. Here is the itinerary: “Prary (Pray), Sog (Song), Eat, Game, Raed (Read), Get Redy (Get Ready), Go to cerch (Go to church).” Next to “cerch” it said, “I don’t know how to spell this.” Diego is so funny.

For breakfast we had a piece of bread that they picked at and made a smile on, a cookie, and a cupcake with sprinkles to share. I made the cupcakes the night before, so they got a couple out and poured sprinkles on them. No icing. Marcelo and I asked if we could toast the bread and they said, “Yes! We didn’t want to do it because we didn’t want to get burned.” Good thinking.

It was such a sweet surprise and I want to remember what my thoughtful boys did forever. They even pulled Eliana’s chair over and had a cup and bread out for her so she wouldn’t be left out. These are the moments that make the harder days worth it. We didn’t have time to do everything on their itinerary before church, but we made up for it after. And you better believe that when it was all over I made them clean it up.