Pictures

I just want to post some pictures of the boys. I didn't write a lot while my grandparents were here because I was trying to spend as much time with them as I could. So now I'm trying to catch up and post pictures that we took while they were here.

One of the last days they were here, we tried to go see the sunrise. It was too cloudy, though. Here's a picture of my grandma and Marcelito. I'm sooooooo sad because I've been looking through my pictures and I don't have hardly any pictures of her!! She was working on so many beautiful projects for us while she was here, so she wasn't there whenever I had my camera out. These are the only two I have. I think she looks so pretty, especially in the second one! I have to ask my parents if they have any more on their cameras. I didn't get a single one of her with Diego!!




































On the last full day they were here, my grandpa went out with me and the kids while my grandma went out with my mom. These are the pictures we took:



























These are the cute sweaters my grandma brought for the boys!




























And one of all of us.

Bye Bye Tato Beto, Tata Ceci

My grandparents left. They were here for over a month and I got to spend almost every day with them. I love them! My grandma is so talented and can teach me so much. And my grandpa and I have a special connection that we've had since I was 8 months old. (Seriously, I've been told the story many times. He was the only one who could get me to stop crying one day, and we formed a bond that has now lasted 24 years.) He's the sweetest man in the world.

Diego calls my parents Tato and Tata. It's his way of trying to say Abuelito and Abuelita. He made it up, but the funny thing is that it is actually a nickname for grandparents in Colombia. Anyway, he decided to call my grandparents, who's names are Humberto and Cecilia, Tato Beto and Tata Ceci. It was very cute. He loved my grandparents. It was wonderful to see my grandpa interact with Diego. He played with him outside every single day. It should be noted that my grandpa is going to be 80 this year, and has had two by-pass surgeries. But that didn't stop him from being outside kicking a ball around and walking to the train tracks with Diego. Diego adopted my poor grandpa as his new favorite toy. If my grandpa tried to go back inside the house, Diego would grab his legs and say, "No Tato Beto! This way. Aqui! (Here.)" My grandma made him soups, which he loved, and showered him with kisses, which he didn't really love, lol. He was too busy to stand still for kisses. Diego learned a ton more Spanish while they were here, so I've now made it a goal to talk to him in Spanish more. I'm terrible at talking to him in Spanish. I need to just make myself do it at least a little bit everyday.

Three funny things he learned from my grandparents:

• They drink coffee everyday. They call it "Tinto." He learned that word pretty fast. My grandma would come outside with the coffee cup for my grandpa and Diego would say, "Tato Beto's tinto!"


• My grandpa always says, "Mucho lo bueno" after he eats dinner. Diego learned to say that. "Muto bueno"


• My grandma called him "Chino" so he now relates that word to her. He says, "Tata Ceci, chino."

Besides seeing my babies interact with my grandparents, the most special part of the trip was the fact that my grandparents took the discussions while they were here. I admit, I am a terrrrrrible missionary. I've only talked to one person about the church in my life, and we all know how that worked out. (He got baptized, turned crazy, and became a Catholic priest.) I wasn't sure how my grandparents would take it, and I was sooo afraid to bring it up, but one day (thanks to the great motivation that my brother gave me) I worked up the courage and talked to my grandpa. I told him that the Church was a huuuuge part of my life and that it was very important to me and that I loved him and my grandma and that I would hate for them to leave without learning what it is that makes me ME. I said that I would love it if they would just listen to the missionaries, just to learn what I believe. And he gladly accepted! My grandma was okay with it, too! So the missionaries came over and we had some nice discussions. We watched The Restoration, and The Testaments. My grandpa agreed to read The Book of Mormon. I'm sooo happy that he's going to read it. He said he didn't want to get baptized, but I already knew that would be the case. All I care about is that he and my grandma left with a better understanding of what I believe. I'm so glad I got to share that with them! They mean so much to me, so it was really great. I cried so much when I said goodbye to them.

And now Diego has been asking for them for the last 3 days. "Tato Beto? Tata Ceci?" I have to say, "They left on an airplane, remember?" To which he replies, "Bye bye Tato Beto, Tata Ceci." :(

Sorry, Mommy

Sometimes, bribery is needed when attempting to raise children.

Whenever I take Diego shopping and he starts to be a terror, I say, "Diego, if you're a good boy and you listen to mommy, I'll buy you a present." The present is usually a little toy from the $1 spot at Target. Anyway, we haven't been shopping in over a month because my grandparents have been here and we've been with them every day.

So, imagine my surprise when I had this conversation with Diego a few days ago as I was strapping him into his carseat before driving over to, you guessed it, see my grandparents.

Diego: Sorry, Mommy.
Me: Sorry for what, Diego?
Diego: Uh...yeesening Mommy.
Me: You're sorry for not listening to Mommy?
Diego: Yes! (Very excited that I had understood him.)
Me: It's okay, Diego. Thank you. (Totally had no idea what he was talking about.)
Diego: Present?
Me: (After it registered.) You think that because you said sorry to mommy, I'm going to buy you a present?
Diego: Yes! Present Diego!

What?!?! Where do they get that stuff? It's amazing how they connect things.

Language Explosion

Diego is just cracking me up these days. I want to remember all these things so I can tell him when he's older, so I'm writing it here.

He talks sooo much. Some of it is really clear, but other things sound nothing like what he's trying to say. I have to admit, it feels good to know that I'm the one person who understands his crazy little language more than anyone else. Marcelo comes in a close second, but since I'm with him more, I understand just a teeny bit more. I love to translate his sentences for people. And he definitely needs translation sometimes. We were playing in my mom's backyard, and he started saying, "Oh no, ba-o-fy gone," over and over. After seeing my mom's confused face, I explained that ba-o-fy was butterfly.

He just comes up with the funniest things to say. Sometimes it's so random and I think, where did he learn that? The latest is that when I'm changing his diaper he says, "Hurry, Mommy, hurry!" Because he needs to get back to playing ASAP, I guess. Today, he looked at my shirt and said, "Wow, nice shirt." What?? And it's soooo cool to hear him forming sentences. He was helping my dad cut down trees the other day, (all he was doing was dragging braches away) so afterwards I asked him, "What did you do with Tato today? Were you helping? Did you cut down the trees?" He said, "No. Tato cut trees." Duh, Mommy, I can't cut the trees myself. It's so funny when he corrects you. Last week, I went to my mom's house and when he saw that her car wasn't there, he goes, "Tata está?" (Tata donde está? He mixes English and Spanish a lot.) I said, "Tata's not here. Tata is at school." We went inside and he played with my grandparents for awhile. Later, he went into my dad's office and said, "Tato, where Tata?" My dad said, "Tata's working." Diego spun around and looked at my dad and said, "No, Tato. Tata school." My little genius.

Since we've been spending every single day with my parents and grandparents for the past two weeks, Diego has picked up a ton more Spanish. He already understood a ton, but now he's saying a lot more words. Here are a few things he knows in Spanish:

• Numbers up to 15
• All the colors
• All the names of transportational vehicles (car, bus, motorcycle, train, bike, boat, etc.)
• The names of a few animals (cow, cat, dog, frog, duck, monkey, lion, fish....can't think of what else)
• The names of lots of outdoor things (tree, grass, sky, clouds, flowers, street, house)
• The names of body parts (eyes, nose, mouth, feet, hands, head)
• Mucho frío
• Así no
• No pinta
• Ay! and Uy!
• Afuera
• Vamos (He usually says, "Es vamos".)
• Zapatos
• Agua
• Leche
• Comida
• Te amo

That's all I can think of right now.

Sometimes, if I don't understand him in English, he'll try telling me the word in Spanish. He was telling me the other day, "I want you one." I was like, huh? He said it again and I kept guessing what he was trying to say, and finally he thought for a moment and said, "I want azul one." YOU was blue. Ohhhh. Also he told my mom, "Tata, has peas," and of course, she was totally lost. When she didn't get it, he said, "Tata, manos peas." Meaning, Tata, hold my hand please.

Okay, Marcelito is calling. More next time.

Just for fun...

I found this on a friend's blog and decided to do it just for fun.

All about my husband

What's his name? Marcelo Diego

How long have you been married? It'll be 5 years in June.

How long did you date? We dated for almost 3 months before we got engaged and were engaged for 10 months before we got married.

How old is he? 27.

Who eats more? We eat about the same, so I'm always trying to make him eat more so I feel better about my bottomless pit of a stomach.

Who said I love you first? He did. There was no way I was going to say it. It happened in his truck. That white, Ford ranger. You know, the one he also proposed in. Oy.

Who is smarter? It depends. I'm smarter in English and anything to do with communication/language. I'm also smarter with computers (typing, photoshop, etc.) But Marcelo beats me on lots of other things. He's an engineer, so he's very logical and good at math. He's amazing at anything that has to do with the house or cars. I can count on him to fix anything and everything. And he's also smarter than me on church related stuff. If I'm stuck on something doctrinal, he can always explain it.

Whose temper is worse? Um, mine. By a landslide.

Who does the laundry? It's a team effort. Our washer is in our pantry, and our dryer is in the garage. On the far end, by the garage door. So instead of getting a hernia carrying out a heavy wet load, I ask him to do it for me. But I'm the main folder in the operation.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If we're facing the bed, I sleep on the left and he sleeps on the right. So when we're lying down, he's on my left. Why is that question so hard to answer?

Who cooks dinner? Oh, me. For sure.

Who pays the bills? Oh, him. For sure.

Who is more spoiled? Me. I try to spoil him, too, but he wins. I mean, who bought who the minivan and a Canon Rebel XT camera?

Who drives when you are in the same car? Marcelo. And I do the backseat driver thing. It probably drives him crazy, but he doesn't let it show.

Who is more stubborn? We're both stubborn, but I'd say he's more stubborn.

Whose parents do you see the most? Right now, mine, because my grandparents are visiting and I'm there every day. But usually it's pretty even.

Who proposed? Marcelo. In his truck, in the middle of the woods. There's not much to say about that. But the second time he proposed (long story involving a botched ring sizing job) he did it at a beautiful park, in a beautiful way.

Who has more friends? Real friends? Me. Fake, chummy work friends? Him.

Who has more siblings? Him. He has a sister and two brothers. I have two brothers.

Who wears the pants in the family? Oh, for sure, he does. But I tell him when to put them on and when to take them off. :)

My Abuelitos Are Here!

My grandparents are here! They came to visit from Colombia! The last time they came was a year ago, for my dad's 50th birthday cruise.

Diego warmed up to them really quickly. He's already playing with them and not worrying about whether or not I'm in the room. We're going to go over there everyday, or at least as much as we can, so Diego is going to love it. And I am too!

I was totally shocked that my grandma surprised me with a beautiful cross-stitching of some cute animals for Marcelito's room! It's gorgeous! I did not expect it at all, so it was a wonderful surprise! I teared up a little because I was so touched that she spent so much time and energy to make it for him. It has his name and his birth stats. I absolutely love it. And I love her! She's so talented in so many ways. She brought so many beautiful things for us. She got the boys some really cute sweaters. I'll have to take pictures of them wearing them.

I'm excited that I'm going to get to spend so much time with my grandparents because I don't have a lot of other things going on that will take my time away. So I'm going to go as much as possible so we can chat, and go out, and just enjoy all the grandparent time I can! And I know Diego is going to have so much fun.

He's 2!

I have a real live 2 year old! I can't believe Diego is already two. He's like...a toddler. He's not a baby anymore. Some might say he's a little boy. I'll stick with toddler because it makes me feel better.

We had his party yesterday. It was a success. I made it completely Diego-friendly, as in, the only food served was okay for him to eat. We had hot dogs, potato chips, and chili, and for dessert we had rice crispy treats and popsicles. No dairy, no eggs, no nuts, no coconut, no cinnamon, no allergic reactions. Perfect.

I didn't take many pictures, which is so unlike me, but I guess my head was elsewhere. So this is all I got.

The theme was trains, firetrucks, and dump trucks, because Diego loves all 3. (He also loves racecars, but they weren't on the plates I found.)





















This is the "cake and ice cream". The popsicles were inside the firetruck, and the rice crispies were stacked in the dump truck.























Eating a popsicle























Playing with his friends























Opening presents with Tio David (Abit). I love how it looks like he's really reading the card.























That's all. Like I said, no good pics. I'm a little bummed about that. Maybe I'll do a fake bday party so I can have a re-shoot. I know Diego wouldn't mind blowing out the candles again.

My grandparents just got here from Colombia, so it was awesome that they could be at the party! I really really wish I would have taken more pictures!! I should have gotten some of him with them but like I said, I was running around and thinking about other things and just didn't do it. :(