Another Newborn Shoot

I had so much fun doing a newborn shoot for a friend a couple of weeks ago. There's just nothing like a sweet little sleeping baby. She was such a trooper and let us move her around to a bunch of different spots. To check out the pictures, go to Surina Photography.

My little Big Boy

Diego after running and running outside. His face was bright red and he said, "I need to sit down."

I need to know what is going on with my 4 year old. All of a sudden, he thinks he's all grown up. When I tell him to do something, he rolls his eyes and says, "You don't have to tell me. I already know." Oh. Excuse me.

Then yesterday while he was helping me make dinner, we had this conversation:
D: Mommy, why do I call you Mommy?
Me: Because I'm your mommy.
D: But why don't I call you mom?
Me: You can call me whatever you want.
D: I like mom. Mom, can I pour the salt in?
Me: Sure. Here you go.
D: Thanks, Mom. Hey, Mom, I like helping with dinner, Mom.

Okay, this was not cool. I'm not ready to be Mom. So I said:
Me: Diego, I like mommy. You don't want to call me Mommy?
D: No. I like mom. Okay, Mom?

Thankfully, he forgot about it after awhile and went back to calling me mommy.

Also, for the last few days he's been asking me a horrible question that I don't want to answer: "How is the baby going to get out of your tummy?" What?? Are we really at the point where he's asking me this? Why can't be just be an innocent little boy forever? So far my answer has been, "The doctor is going to take the baby out at the hospital." And then he says, "But how? Where is the baby going to come out of?" And I say, "Mommies have a special place where babies can come out and the doctor is going to help get her out when she's ready." And then I try to change the subject. Is this good? Bad? I have no idea what to say. I have c-sections and really don't want to say, "Um, they're going to cut me open and yank the baby out of me."

Lastly, it has been 4 days since Diego took a nap. I think it's safe to say that naps are officially over. I've known it was coming for a long time, so I'm not really that sad about it. I've been making him have "quiet time" in his room and that's been going great. He feels like such a big kid and loves to be in there doing puzzles, coloring, playing with playdough, or whatever other activities I give him to do. This is HUGE because this is my child who has always been incapable of entertaining himself. I'm thrilled with how well it's going. I have a lot of friends who tell me their oldest child took naps until age 4, so I know it's not that uncommon, but I also know several kids who stopped at 2, so I'm so thankful it lasted as long as it did! The other good thing is that he's falling asleep a lot earlier. Since daylight savings and putting the boys in the same room, they've been staying up until 10pm talking. Last week they started falling asleep at 9:30. But now that Diego's not napping, he's crashing at 8pm! Yay! Celo tries to keep him awake by yelling, "DIEGO! TALK TO ME!" But Diego is zonked out.

So yeah, my little boy is getting too old. At least I still have another year before kindergarten. I'm really not pleased with how fast time is passing.

Whistling and a Belly Pic

(The boys in their Easter Sunday attire.)

Marcelo was whistling the other night and the boys wanted to try it. Their little personalities came out and it cracked me up.

Diego takes after me. Poor kid. He gets frustrated easily if he can't figure out how to do something on the first try and is really hard on himself. (A character flaw of mine.) When he found that he couldn't whistle, he was so upset and said, "I'm not good at whistling! I don't know how! I can't do it!"

Celo takes after his dad. Lucky boy. He believes in himself and thinks he can conquer the world if he wants to. And if he can't figure something out, it doesn't bother him one bit, because he still thinks he's pretty awesome. He tried to whistle and couldn't, but he still smiled and said, "I good at whistling!"

When I was 7 years old, I wrote this in my journal: "I hate whistling. Whistling is dumb. I wish it was never invented." What a drama queen. PS, I still can't whistle.

If only Diego and I could be a little more like the Marcelo's in our lives.

Oh and for the family, here I am at 32 weeks preggo. With my track record, that means 5 to 7 weeks to go. Will she be a May baby or a June baby? Time will tell.

Take That, Smuckers

Check me out:I made strawberry freezer jam! When Kate posted this on Our Best Bites, I immediately wanted to try it. I never knew it was so easy. I had a million strawberries since they've been so cheap lately, so I bought the rest of the stuff and gave it a shot. I didn't use the exact recipe Kate posted because the only fruit pectin I found was Ball Instant Fruit Pectin for easy freezer jam. It took no time at all and Diego and I loved it. Celo is a weirdo and doesn't like jelly/jam, so he wasn't impressed. He only likes "toast with sugar". (Toast with butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. Why oh why did I ever introduce that?)

So now I have a ton of jam in my freezer. Have I mentioned how much I love having a deep freezer? Love it.

Miracles

A few months back, when it was ridiculously cold in FL, we took the boys to the mall one frosty night. When we got back into the car, the car wouldn't start. Marcelo tried turning it on a few times and nothing happened. I turned to the kids and said, "Let's say a prayer." We prayed that the car would start and we would be able to get home. When we finished the prayer, Marcelo turned the key and the car started right up. Diego exclaimed, "It's magic!!" I said, "No, not magic. A miracle." We explained a little about miracles. Now he's convinced everything is a miracle. Like if a toy is broken and Marcelo changes the battery, it's a "miracle" that the toy works again. Today, we went to the incredibly packed local zoo and had to park in the dirt. When we were leaving, we came thisclose to getting stuck in the dirt. It took a few tries to back out, but we made it. Diego rejoiced, "It's a miracle!"

And you know what? I think he's right. I can't even count the number of little miracles that happen everyday and that I take for granted. Hearing Diego's innocent take on things helps me to look at things differently and focus on these little miracles.

Today's miracles: the baby kicking and squirming in my belly, the shuttle launch we all got up to see this morning, the fact that Celo didn't hurt himself a single time while he ran willy nilly all over the slippery cement today (with me reminding him to "stop running!!" the entire time), the house didn't burn down when I left my flat iron on for 3 hours, the boys cleaned up their toys in half the time and with half the nagging, we made it home from the zoo safely even though a lady ran a stop sign and nearly t-boned us, the kids were soooo good all day with minimal bickering, and the list goes on.

Off topic, but you know what else is a miracle? The fact that Diego can speak well. Why? Because sometimes I don't correct him when he says things wrong. It's just too cute! For instance, he calls shivering "sugaring". And sunscreen is "sumscream". I always tell myself, "I'll tell him how to say it the right way next time." But sugaring??? Come on. That's cute. "Mommy, it's cold! I'm sugaring!"

I love that sweet, cuddly boy. And the other crazy one, too.

General Conference

It's that time again!

This weekend, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints all over the world tune in to General Conference.

This is what the Church's website says about General Conference: Messages of inspiration and guidance will be delivered by the First Presidency, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and other General Authorities and general officers of the Church. The sessions are at 12pm and 4pm Eastern Time on Saturday and Sunday. Each session will have a different set of speakers covering many different topics, music by the Mormon Tabernacle choir, and will last two hours.

If you're interested in tuning in, you can watch by finding the closest meeting house in your area, or if you want to stay home, you can watch it on BYUTV (Dish Network-channel 9403, DirecTV - channel 374, ATT/Uverse - channel 567) or watch or listen online at either of these websites: http://www.lds.org/broadcast/gc/0,5161,9080,00.html
http://www.byub.org/programaz/program.asp?id=571

Newborn Photoshoot

Since I got very little time with my cousin's baby at our first shoot, we tried again. Go to Surina Photography to check out the latest pictures. Here's a preview: I'm in the middle of editing my latest newborn shoot, so stay tuned for more. I love little tiny babies.