Mmmm, Shipley's

I am happy to report that Gloria had her stitches taken out this morning and all looks well! She will be ready to start swim lessons next week. And she was super brave again, scoring a visit to her treat of choice, Shipley's, on the way home. She actually asked for this the day she got the stitches, but they were already closed.

Snuggles

I love the way Anastasia is snuggled up to her Daddy here. So sweet.

Booster time

Stephen graduated to the booster seat at the table today, leaving the high chair open for Anastasia when she starts baby food in a month or so. He was so proud!

Happy Pentecost!

Ready for mass with Daddy in her red dress

 Allia gave Anastasia her red bow after mass...too cute!

It begins...

the dressing up, that is. At least she is a girl. Poor Stephen had to tolerate it too! ;)

The ills of having a little brother

Stephen? Oh he is sweet, adorable, generous, loving...most of the time...
but occasionally, like today...
The children were outside while the baby was sleeping on me (she has been taking some of her naps in the swing lately but decided not to today). I had just gotten her good and asleep and was about to prep lunch when...
the children started throwing things outside, harmless things at first like snack (this does make me irate that they were wasting food like that), then balls, then Stephen decided to grab this bar that is part of the double stroller but always falls off and launch it at Gloria's face...
so I hear wailing outside and think, "Oh, great." In burst Allia and Mariana screaming about Gloria gushing blood from her face because Stephen threw something at her. I decide I had better check this out. Sleeping baby in tow, I find her in the garage and see, yes, blood is dripping from her face from a gash under her eye, down her dress and all over the garage. I shoot a dirty look in Stephen's direction and usher wailing Gloria inside where I clean her off and wrap ice in a washcloth for her to hold on her face. Of course this makes her scream even louder and baby starts wiggling awake. So after battling for a few minutes I decide she can give up the cold pack, lay her on the couch and put on a video. Then I proceed to rock the now mostly awake baby back to sleep. Nice. So the whole time I am having a guilt trip looking at my pitiful Gloria laying there on the couch, eye swelling, wishing I could hold and comfort her but instead am patting my overly tired baby (because I only let her get a 30 minute nap on me earlier this morning) back to sleep, thinking I ought to be out disciplining my 2 year old for causing this! After we finally eat lunch, clean up, and I get Stephen down for nap, Gloria is still looking pitiful, refusing to eat, and oozing drops of blood. So I let hubby know, he comes home to check it out and whisks her off to urgent care.

So after five stitches -she didn't even cry!- and an impromptu visit to Chicken Express with Daddy, here she is. Poor baby.

And yes, that is dripped blood on her dress. I didn't ever change her clothes. Wanna sign me up for mom of the year? Maybe next year, k?

Brother time

Stephen has been especially sweet with Anastasia the last few days. Here he is just adoring and loving on her!

Little trick

Yesterday was a special day which means special treats at our house. Austin decided as a little trick, to sneak in while Stephen was napping and spread gummy lifesavers (one of his favs) all over his bed. Here is the video (starts out a little dark but gets better) of their conversation when he went to get him up from nap.

Sweet talk

Mariana was so sweet with Anastasia yesterday afternoon. She was holding her and playing with her, talking and making her smile and goo. It was really precious. It is sweet to see Anastasia's personality blooming these last few weeks. She is still somewhat reserved but has been smiling a lot more and has become much more vocal!

Redheads

Sticking together

 Big blue eyes and tasty fingers

 I caught a little smile!

Happy Mother's Day!

Many blessings to all mothers out there. May Our Lady, mother of all mothers, shower you with love and blessing today!

My husband and children have treated me with such TLC today, I feel truly blessed! :)

A little shed

Austin recently kicked the bikes out of the garage. It was getting so crowded we could hardly get in and out of the car. So he decided to build a small shed on the extra slab he and pawpaw poured during the porch project. Allia was a great help to him since I was mostly tied up with baby, and the children made this silly game where they would run in and dance and sing loudly. It was pretty funny! Now our bikes have a nice home, and we have a neater, more spacious garage. Yay!

ps Mariana is back. Yay...we missed her!

Blowing raspberries

Yesterday, Anastasia acquired the all-important skill of blowing raspberries and did it all day. It was sooo cute that were all smiling and giggling so much. I could barely catch her on camera, though because she would stop as soon as she saw it. Sneaky girl. Here is the best glimpse I could get.

Gardening and crafting

Allia's squash plant must have liked our recent rains. She is so proud of this giant squash! (The photo doesn't do it justice...it really is huge!)

Here are the girls (minus our Mariana) making their mother's day cards. I broke out the glitter glue for some extra fun!

Baby moments

Time with Manah while Daddy was out of town for work.

And another serious expression in her exersaucer. What a pensive girl! So cute and sweet though!

Fishing with Lito

Mariana went fishing with Lito this morning, and they sent us these photos. Cute girl...we sure miss her!

 

She actually caught a fish!

 Driving the boat?!

Piano Recital

 Allia had her spring piano recital today and played beautifully. The students dressed up to match one of their pieces, and she played a Spanish Dance and was dressed to match that. I couldn't attend, but Lito and Mariana were there. Kudos to Lito for the photography...my camera is finicky these days, and he managed to get good photos and a video! Yay!

 

Off she goes!

Mariana is off for her 6 year old trip to stay a week with Lito and Lita...a sort of right of passage tradition in Austin's family. She has been planning and packing since she was 5 1/2, no kidding. I will miss my big girl, but I know she will be in good hands and have lots of fun!

Visiting with Lito

In Daddy's arms

Time for Cascarones!

Lito is such a good sport!

All dressed up for mass with his hair slicked by Lito...so handsome!

What a lap full :)

Exersaucer time!

In honor of her 4 month birthday, we brought out the exersaucer. She loves it!

It must be nice to be so adored!

 

4 Months Old!

This is the perfect photo of you because you always have your little hands together like this as if you are either praying or worrying about something. You have very pensive expressions. You like to chew on your hands too...no paci.

Some wonderful things about you right now:
* You are mostly content when awake and are so patient with being passed from arm to arm while everyone takes a turn to hold you.
* Your smiles and giggles are sooo sweet...often hard to come by, but it just makes them that much sweeter when they come.
*Once I get you down at night you seem to like sleeping for a good long stretch and even frequently wake up "talking" instead of crying until I hear you. I sure hope you keep this up!

Challenges right now:
*You are tough to get to sleep...occasionally you fall asleep in the swing, never the car or your bed, mostly on me. This is challenging for sure and means that many of your naps are in the Moby.
*Bedtime is no exception to the above. It takes a long time to get you settled, and often after I finally get you down, you wake right back up crying, and I have to start over. Letting you cry just doesn't work right now.
* You can still only stay awake for about an hour before getting tired. This is a challenge, especially when we need to run errands!

Joys and difficulties, we love you so much. Let's just hope you grow out of some of the tough things over the next few months!

Talking with Stephen

I just love two year old talk. Stephen is the epitome of cuteness right now...well, except for those few moments when he refuses to do anything you say. But the other 98% of the time I could just eat him up! So I decided to interview him and get some of his sweet baby talk on video before it is all gone.

Sweet sisters

Rolling Girl

Anastasia rolled over! You can tell she wasn't so happy about it. I didn't catch her until she had pushed herself back to her side, but I promise she made it to her tummy. :)