More Pictures

So we've established that I'm a wannabe photographer, yeah? Okay.

While I love, love, love, taking pictures, I still have a lot to learn about my camera, lighting, etc, etc. While Lina was here, I got to play around with her sweet lenses, and now I want a new lens sooo bad. Maybe I'll save up and buy one for Christmas.

Definitely my favorite thing to take pictures of is my kids. They're my little models. Diego is starting to like it more and actually smiles if I ask him to, but taking pictures of Marcelo is a lot harder. He hates sitting still.

Okay, so without further ado, here are my favorites that I took with Lina's 24-135mm lens. I resized them so they wouldn't take years to upload, so the quality isn't as good as the originals. Aaaaand I just accidentally uploaded them all the wrong size. Oh well, I don't feel like changing it, so sorry they're all a little big.

Shamu mid-air at Sea World

This one's a little blurry. It highlights my favorite part of Diego: his profile. I love his little nose.

And my favorite part of Marcelito: his ridiculously long eyelashes. I'm so jealous of these things.

I love this one. Diego saw it and said, "That's me riding my bike!"

Those eyes!! I can see them changing more everyday. I think they'll end up hazel like Diego's.

That's all. Anyone wanna chip in to buy me a new lens? :)

Pictures from Lina

My cousin Lina was visiting from Colombia this week. She's my age, and we've met a few times, but we've never had much contact. Even though I have pictures of the two of us together as babies, this was like meeting her for the first time. It was such a cool experience to reconnect after so many years, and find that we have the same nose, the same beauty mark above our lip, and the same love of photography and art. The difference between us is that she is a true professional (studied in Florence, Italy and everything) and I am a major wannabe. But I'll get there one day. I am bound and determined.

I have approximately 18 cousins on my mom's side of the family. So counting myself and my brothers, there are 21 of us. 14 of us are girls. I've only grown up with 3 of my cousins close by, and have had to see the rest in bits and pieces over the years. The incredible thing is that when I see each one again after several years of not being in contact, I find that we all have a lot in common. We're all artistically inclined, in one way or another. Just speaking of those of us in our 20's, Juliana, Lili, and Andrea all love music and are awesome dancers. Lili and Johanna are really good at making jewelry and have an eye for fashion. Caro, Lina, Lili, Johanna, and I like to draw and paint. Lina and I like photography and messing around in photoshop. And a bunch of us like to sing. We all get this from our parents, who were also very musical and artistic.

Anyway, it was really cool to see Lina again and get to ask her a bazillion questions about her photography. The girl is amazing. Her photography is very artistic and conceptual. She finds beauty in everyday things. She has taken amazing pictures of tree bark, water, clouds, the side of a building, a deck....she finds the beauty in everything. I asked her to take some pictures of my kids on the morning she was leaving, which is a very different kind of subject than what she is used to shooting. My boys are crazy little monkeys and refused to sit still for her, so it was pretty difficult. I'm sure the pieces of wood she shot in her last collection didn't make her break a sweat like my boys did. But I'm so happy with what she was able to get. Below are the shots she took of the boys. Thank you, Lina!!!

Diego's "happy face"

She actually got a better shot of me and Marcelito, but I like this one because there I am, trying to get a cute shot, and there he is, sucking his thumb and flicking everyone off.

I can't resist those cheeks.

Finally, they're sitting still for a second! Diego with his favorite toy ever: his tricycle.

I can't decide if I like these last three better in black and white or in color.

Our Eventful Week

This was a week of milestones.

Milestone #1
I am very happy to announce that after 2 and a half months of accidents and frustrations, Diego is now fully potty trained! (Except for at night. That'll take awhile.) After weeks and weeks of constantly asking him, "Are you dry? Do you need to go potty?" he finally decided to tell me on his own. It started with him wanting to go by himself, "No Mommy, I go by self!" And then, all of a sudden, he was telling me every single time and his pull up was always dry. (Yes, I wussed out and used pull ups instead of underwear for awhile.) Last Wednesday, we were in the car for over an hour, stuck in traffic during a downpour, and for the last half hour, he kept telling me, "I need to go potty!" I told him we couldn't stop, and to just go in his pull up. When we arrived at our destination half an hour later, he was still dry and went on the potty. I couldn't believe it. Yesterday, we spent the day at Sea World, and again, dry dry dry. I was totally shocked. He's been dry all week. It finally clicked!

But....there is still one more test. Grandma's house. Tomorrow will be the final test. At home, at my house, at the store, at a restaurant, even at Sea World, he tells me. But at my mother-in-law's house, he's always too busy playing with his cousins. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

Milestone #2
Marcelito is walking!!!! He started walking on Wednesday, July 16th. That morning, he walked two steps, maybe three. My parents saw him and said he'd probably walk in two more weeks, just in time for his birthday. Well, after he woke up from his nap that afternoon, two steps turned into twenty. I got it on video but I can't find the plug for the computer to upload it. Diego thinks it's hilarious. "Maceito's walking!" (He calls him Mah-say-ee-toh) It's been very different from Diego, though. Diego walked when he was 11 months and 4 days old. The day he started walking, he just kept going and never stopped. He would crawl a little here and there, but for the most part he just wanted to walk. Celo on the other hand, walked a ton the first day, then for the next two days, he walked less, like maybe 6 or 7 steps at a time. And then today he was back to 10 steps at a time, but he still prefers to crawl. Maybe the difference is that Diego never really learned how to crawl right, lol. He did kind of a one-legged crawl, whereas Marcelito is a little speed-crawler. Anyway, I think it'll still be a few weeks before Celo decides to walk more, but for now it's just exciting to see his wobbly little body taking steps, with his chubby little arms straight up in the air for balance. So cute!

I have tons more to write about our eventful week and lots of pictures to post, but I'm just too tired right now. So for tonight, just one more story before I forget it.

On the car ride home tonight, I was chatting with Diego, telling him that the sun had gone to bed. This was our conversation.


Me: What comes out at night when the sun goes to bed?

Diego: I don't know.

Me: The moon comes out!

Diego: Oh.

Me: What else comes out with the moon?

Diego: I don't know.

Me: Stars!

Diego: Oh. (Long pause.) OH! I get it!!


The way he said "I get it" was so cute. Marcelo and couldn't help ourselves and started cracking up. Oh, he also learned how to play hide and seek tonight, thanks to his cousin's Ani and Isabella. He loved it.

Okay, goodnight.

Boys

If you need to be uplifted, read A Daily Scoop. I feel like my whole outlook has changed just by reading this amazing woman's story. Thanks Alisa for telling me about her. I'm trying to stop taking things for granted and enjoy the moment more. I'm also trying to be better at nurturing myself spiritually, so I can be an example and a strength to my boys like this lady undoubtedly is to her daughters.

I love these boys.

Sometimes people act like they feel sorry for me because I don't have a girl. Those people obviously have never been the mother to a boy. If they were, they wouldn't say such silly things because they would know how amazing it is to be the mother of little men. Boys are so fun! They are funny, mischevious, and can be so sweet. They melt my heart. And then there's the incredible part, which is knowing that you're the mother of a future priesthood holder. That's quite the responsibility. I hope that besides allowing them to be lizard-chasing, bike riding, racecar obsessed boys' boys, I can raise them to be worthy priesthood holders, missionaries, and wonderful husbands and fathers.

I always wanted a house full of boys. Maybe because I was raised with 2 brothers, and was frequently the only girl in the room when their friends were over. My ideal family would be 3 boys and a girl. But who knows what the Lord has in store for us? All I know is that for now, I love having boys. So don't feel sorry for me. :)

**Edited to add that this post does not mean I feel sorry for people who don't have boys. I know that every mother is happy with whatever gender HF decides to bless them with. And those of you raising girls, raise some good ones because my boys are going to need some good girls to marry!

Recharged

I just spent the last 30 minutes bawling my eyes out at the computer. I haven't cried like that in a long long time. I was reading a woman's blog that I don't even know, and it ripped my heart out. She just lost her baby girl (a one year old) in a drowning accident about a month ago. I'm amazed by this woman's attitude about it. I can't believe how well she's holding it together. I'm so inspired by her. I don't think I could handle that kind of loss. She has three other daughters to comfort and take care of. It seems like an insurmountable task to have to go day to day, continuing the normal routine, when all you want to do is roll up into a ball and cry. Reading her words made me want to go wake up my sleeping boys and just give them hugs.

I try not to write much about the tougher parts of life in here because I don't think many people want to read about that. I tend to do the same in my regular journal, even though no one reads that. I just think, whoever does end up reading it, whether it be my kids, grandkids, or whatever, doesn't need to hear about the crappy stuff, so I only write positive things. But maybe that's not the way to think about it. Maybe the crappy stuff will serve some purpose. So I'm going to try to stop making things all rosy all the time. I'll start now.

The past few weeks have been very trying. I'm sure every mother of a two year old can relate. Diego has been very defiant and difficult. I understand that it's just the age, but it's still hard. He repeats the same sentence a million times, (I want go pool. I want go pool. I want go pool. I want go pool.) doesn't listen AT ALL to anything I ask of him, doesn't want to eat his food, is mean to his little brother, and whines non-stop. After awhile, it's hard to be patient. Anyway, Marcelo and I were really needing a break, plus we just had our anniversary and didn't get to do much celebrating, so we left the kids with my parents this weekend and had two full days away.

It was wonderful.

On the first day, we went to Disney. Although it is much less of a hassle without kids, Marcelo and I found ourselves wishing the boys were with us. We still had a ton of fun, but realized that it's even more fun to watch Diego's face light up and listen to Marcelito crack up. We only lasted about 6 hours before we decided we'd had enough. We're wussy. We had planned on staying until 10pm for the fireworks, but by 6pm we were done. We checked into our hotel, went to dinner at Friday's, and then tried to go to a movie, but the movie sold too many tickets and there was nowhere to sit. So we got our money back and walked around Pleasure Island instead. It's quite an interesting place. We smelled some illegal substances as crowds of teenagers walked by us, and witnessed a guy getting tackled to the ground by police after 5 minutes of taunting them, "Send me to jail! Send me to jail!" (I'm pretty sure he got his wish.) We went back to the hotel and went to sleep at a record 10:30pm, and didn't wake up until 10:30 the next morning. Well, that's not true. We both woke up at 8am (stupid internal clock) but were so insistant on actually getting to sleep in, that we made ourselves lay there for another two hours. Day two consisted of window shopping at Ikea, walking around a pricey mall, eating at PF Changs, and missing our second attempt to see a movie. Maybe in a few weeks we can get a babysitter and finally see the movie we've been trying to see.

As we drove home, my mom called and told me stories about Diego missing us and asking for Mommy and Daddy. I'm pretty sure she was lying though, because when we walked in the door, he ignored us and said he wanted to stay at Tata's house. He was right back to being his same old "terrible two" year old self, and we felt like we had never left. Honestly, I was a little disappointed because I had fully expected to come home totally recharged and full of patience, but that wasn't the case. It was back to scolding him as usual, "Diego, stop playing with your food. That's for eating. No, don't throw it. Diego, listen. Stop yelling, that's not nice. You're scaring Marcelo." Deep breaths.

Anyway, so today was another day of taking deep breaths, and then I sat down and read this lady's blog. First I bawled, then I dropped to my knees and said a prayer of thanks for my boys and for the opportunity I have to be their mother. And now I feel recharged.

They just woke up from their naps and we watched the rain. Now I'm off to do whatever the heck they want to do.

Marcelito - 11 months old!

I can't believe my baby is going to be a year old in a couple of weeks! It makes me want to cry. Time is going by too fast! I still think of him as an 8 month old. So much so that last week, when the eye doctor asked me how old my kids were, I told him I had a 2 year old and an 8 month old. He's just so little!

It's amazing how different I feel this time around. When Diego was turning one, I was 3 months pregnant, so it didn't hit me very hard because I knew I'd have a new baby soon. But this time, my baby is about to turn one, and there are no plans in the near future for another baby. Don't get me wrong, I feel completely at peace and happy with that. There isn't even a tiny part of me that is interested in having another baby right now. When Diego was one, I felt ready for another. But having two is so different. Especially two monkey boys! They're so active and crazy, and take up all my time and energy. I can't even imagine what it would be like with three. Nope. Definitely not time yet. Maybe I'll think about it after Marcelito turns 2.

For now, I'll just enjoy every minute of playing with racecars, rolling a ball back and forth, building towers, setting up train tracks, blowing bubbles, reading "I'm a Big Brother" and changing the names to Diego and Marcelo, dancing to spanish kids' songs, breaking up fights over toys, stopping Diego from running over Marcelito with his tricycle, and watching the boys go crazy kicking their feet in the tub to make the biggest splashes they can make, and the biggest messes for me to clean up.

For now, I'll just enjoy my babies. Here's the 11 month old baby.

Wearing Daddy's shirt:

My little thumb sucker, tired of all this picture taking.

And here's the big baby.

Independence Day

We had a pretty busy 4th of July. In the morning, we ran a 3K. And by "ran" I mean, Marcelo ran, coming in 5th place, and I walked and pushed the stroller, coming in at number 62. And I was out of breath and my face was purple.

Next we took the kids to the beach with my parents. Amazingly, little Marcelo didn't eat any sand! Big Marcelo is another story. (Kidding.) Here are some pictures from our day at the beach:

I love this picture. He thought getting splashed in the face was hilarious.

I couldn't get any pictures of Diego looking up. He was way too busy for his wannabe photographer mommy, regardless of the fact that she was risking the well-being of her camera by squatting into the ocean, trying to get just one cute shot!

In the late afternoon, we had a BBQ at Marcelo's aunt's house. There were 19 kids, ages 13 to 2 months. They had a blast. They swam in the pool and rode their little tractors around the front lawn. Diego has become quite the expert driver. Again, no pictures of him, though. Just this one of Marcelito trying to drink the pool water.

By 9pm we were exhausted, so we skipped the fireworks. Diego was almost falling asleep on our 5 minute drive home from Tia Juany's house. He was sitting there staring at his Thomas movie, with this angry little tired face. I said, "Look, Diego, see the fireworks in the sky??" He looked up for a split second, then looked back at his movie, and with angry little furrowed brows, he said, "Noooo. Uh-uh. Stop talking!" I tried so hard to not crack up so he wouldn't think it was funny to tell mommy to stop talking. When we got home, I tried to unbuckle him and I said, "Come on! Let's look at the fireworks!" (We could see some from our front lawn.) Again his response was, "Stop talking!" When I told my mom this story, she said, "Hmmm, sounds like someone I know that I used to have to wake up for seminary." I have no idea what she's talking about.