Summer Fun!

As much as our family isn't really a sun-lovin' family, we are really really enjoying our Texas summer. I am just in love with Texas and I'll go ahead and say I do love the winters more than the 100 degree summers, but this summer thing isn't so bad! With our pool right across the street, and splash pads all over the place, we sure have a lot of fun. 

 The girls really surprised me and got soaked!

 They are usually dainty little ladies, getting their toes wet and one corner of their swimsuit, but they loved this particular park!

 Maya did whatever the big kids did.

 And Amelia, she surprised me the most! There was a bucket that filled up and dropped, and she would stand right under that bucket, waiting to get soaked!

 Amelia is motivated by friends and is more daring when she sees them. We've been seeing some friends more and more and she is loving it!

 We also took our annual visit to the Teddy Bear Surgery that my friend Kasee does for work each year.

 We saw some friends there.

 Maya brought Minnie Mouse and Amelia brought her purple monkey Kiki.

 Isn't this the most adorable event ever?

 Maya giving Minnie Mouse kisses on her stitches.

And then we spend a lot of lazy days inside which I love:

 And don't forget free slurpees on 7/11! Amelia thought hers tasted like licorice, which she has shortened to call licor. So it was my favorite when she'd come asking for her slurpee and say, "Mommy where's my liquor?" Love it.

Last night we went to the library and then took a walk down main street and got Kawaii Ice. It was the best evening out as a family and I told Juan I wanted to do it once a week!

Visiting Grandma Rose

On Juan's birthday, we received news that his mom was very sick in the hospital. So a couple days later we packed up and headed out to Wisconsin to see her. 18 hour drive, Juan drove all the way through. And I was a very reliable passenger who only snoozed off a few times. Of course the girls did great, they are born road trippers. 

 Amelia showing she is a true Texas girl by "freezing" in the 61 degrees.

 I don't love these shots of me, but Juan is so cute.

We spent a lot of time at the hospital. Rose was so happy to see the girls and they were so excited to see her. Amelia hadn't seen Grandma Rose for a long while, and she was constantly talking about how she had 2 grandmas! Amelia sang her songs and showed her drawings and told her about her days. Maya blew kisses constantly, any time we'd leave the room. And she talked a little bit for her also. Rose is still in the hospital with pneumonia but she is stable and just waiting out the sickness. It was a very special visit and I'm so happy we went. I'm so impressed with the girls and how quickly they warmed up to Grandma Rose and also how well-behaved they were in the hospital! We spent up to 6 hour blocks in that hospital and they were just the best.

We also fit in some other Wisconsin things. We drove past Juan's childhood homes, we visited Juan's dad's grave on his birthday, we ate delicious burgers and frozen custard. We even watched multiple fireworks shows from the hospital room on the 8th floor. Beautiful. We also spent a lot of time with my dear friend Julaine and her family. Thank you Julaine for letting us barge in on your life for a few days, we had the best time. 

 Julaine's boy Felix, always ready for the camera.

See Felix back there, ha!

Silly girls.

Amelia taking a snooze in the hospital, isn't she the most beautiful sleeper?

Taking a break in the hospital garden. I love this picture of us, even if I was out of eye liner that day.

This book was Maya's comfort on the trip. Wheels on the Bus. She will look through it for long periods of time. And whenever she'd get frustrated with being in the car, I would just hand her this book. (Thanks Steph!)

Sleeping angels.

And me at 22 weeks along today. Time is going SO fast.

Maya's mullet at its finest. Oh man Maya, please just get that hair growing on top cute girl.

Tomorrow Maya is 18 Months.

• She is talking up a storm. Today I said to her, where'd you leave your banana? and she yells to me, ON THE COUCH! We often catch her in stream of conscious where she just says anything she can think of: Daddy go away. Daddy work. Daddy go car. Outside. Hot hot hot. Buggies outside. No no buggies inside. Daddy go *whack* (she didn't say whack, she made the motion of daddy swatting the flies). 
• She identifies all her body parts that I have thought to teach her. 
• She is back and forth on knowing and not knowing animal sounds. Her favorite is owl.
• She is obsessed with Amelia. She loves to just go and sit beside her and is thrilled to be included in anything Amelia is doing, if Amelia will allow.
• She holds her own. She gives a real good scream and yank when Amelia tries to take something.
• She loves books. As mentioned before Wheels on the Bus, Old McDonald, and The Little Mouse The Red Ripe Strawberry and The Big Hungry Bear. No joke, she has that book memorized, both girls do. 
• She loves when I sing to her and scratch her back. And I can actually get her to snuggle me if I do those things.
• She loves bubbles, playing in dirt, and watering the plants. 
• She listens for the garage and greets daddy with a big hug every day. 
• She loves us so much. Seriously how can we not be the happiest people alive when we have a girl like her that loves us so much?

G&G visit!

My parents came into town and the girls were spoiled with attention and playtime and lots of love! They warmed up so quickly to them. We ate, we played games, we went swimming, went to the children's museum, it was a great time!

 We love how cool Amelia thinks she is in this picture.

 Maya saying "cheese".

 Group shot. 

 The children's museum was so much fun! And Amelia's favorite part was the kitchen, she was pretty cute.

 Maya and Juan checking out the train.

 The wind tunnel was also a big hit.

 Maya loved crawling down the baby slide.

 Cheese!

Pretty cute family shot.

And a quick update on each girlie:

"I being mean mommy" after she took this picture.

Amelia is our little negotiator. Each night she comes down for bad dreams-we say a prayer, owies on her legs-we put lotion on her bites. This is her new one, mommy I wanna talk. She recently even faked a fall down the stairs to avoid getting yelled at for coming out of her room once again. She said, "I OK, I rolled." Ha! So it takes about an hour for her to actually go to bed. We've gone through this phase before and I know it's only a phase, but my patience is growing very thin. She is starting to really listen to what we are saying and when I recently told Juan how impressed I was that Maya is saying Grandma when I know Amelia didn't even attempt that word until 2 1/2 Amelia piped in and said, what you talking bout mommy? She is a sweetheart. She is really appreciating Maya and having her as a playmate. She loves to give the new baby huggies, and she always prays for him. 

We really love our sweet 3 year old.

And Miss Maya.

Isn't she the cutest thing? Her speech has really taken off. I am amazed at how much she talks every day. Her most common phrases are: "I coming." "Here go," and "go away". She says 'go away' to everything. Daddy leaves for work, "daddy go away". A bubble blows away in the wind, "bubble go away". She means it as all gone or where did it go? But she says go away, it took me a while to realize it wasn't in a mean way, she's not telling any of us to go away. She repeats everything we ask her to and does a great job! She says strawberry, cheerios, yogurt pretty clearly. Those are tough words! She will rotate what she calls Amelia. She was doing Mimi for a while, and then she'll do Mee-yah. A lot of times she calls her daddy because that is the easiest thing to say. 

And the boy.

I have a 3rd child to do an update on now! I am currently 20 weeks along and have been feeling this little guy move for a few weeks now. I have my 20 week ultrasound tomorrow. I have been buying a few clothes here and there, I still only have about 5 outfits total. I need to get some shopping in! We have been discussing names and have a pretty clear front-runner that I get more and more excited about each day. 

And that is us. Juan turns 29 on Saturday, the 29th!

Pictures Pictures Pictures

 I really enjoy being pregnant, especially now that I was actually pretty sick the first trimester and I'm over that now. So you're going to get a lot of cheesy pregnant pictures :) Here I am last week at 16 weeks.

 Backyard fun.

 And more beach pictures from Kasee's camera. Maya really likes to be a diva and get all bundled and sit and eat. She does this at the pool too.

 Our group shot from friendcation!

 And a family pic. Cheer up Miss Maya.

This girl is just the best. Every day as she talks talks talks my ear off, I am just so amazed she is my daughter.

 And pictures from this weekend! My sister Heather and her fam came into town and visited for 1 day. It was the best day! And I'm so glad we were a stop on their road trip adventure. Here are Sami and Millie climbing the 'mountain' at Zilker park.

 And Juan and the girls.

 We went to the original Salt Lick. Juan and I have been loyal Rudy's fans for bbq, but Salt Lick definitely won me over, especially with their sausage and ribs. But still go to Rudy's for brisket :) And ps, this is the biggest restaurant I've ever been to in my life, it was amazing!

 This picture melts my heart. Sami is so good with the kiddos, it was such a relief to have both Sami and Griff to entertain the girls at restaurants.

 Griff and Mill building towers. Amelia loved to say, where my friends? whenever we got home and they were a few minutes behind us. She really warms up to and loves her cousins. First thing in the morning Amelia followed Griff around the yard as they searched for frogs and squirrels. That's the best about cousins, they always pick right up as if they never lived apart.

16 Weeks and It's a...

B O Y ! !  !

We decided to find out a little early whether we are having a boy or a girl. I've been pretty sure of a boy this whole time. I was pretty sick and my cravings have been all salty salty salty. And I can't say I really was sick or had any cravings with the girls at all. But I didn't want to make a fool of myself and then be wrong, haha. Well in this case, I wasn't wrong! 

It was so exciting to see our baby boy! Amelia and Maya both came with us. Maya played pleasantly with the toys, and Amelia was quite excited to watch the tv screen saying, "Look! His hand!" Juan and I would laugh and basically shoot her down and then the Tech would pipe in and say, that is a hand! I do think she was randomly naming body parts, but maybe she is a 3 year old genius! When Juan and I excitedly told her it was a boy, she nodded and said, yeah. Kind of like yeah that's what I've been telling you. She has been saying boy all along. 

I did kind of tear up just being able to picture more details of our growing family and know more about this little human being I feel tiny movements from every now and then. Juan is happy but still in a state of shock I think. He doesn't trust ultrasounds fully, even though there was no denying this clear shot of our boy.