Random Thoughts

We've had a lot going on recently and I better blog about it now while I have time, or I'll never get to it.

My in-laws treated us to a trip to Sedona for the 4th of July. We had a great time swimming and playing with the Schmid cousins. The weather was amazing (I guess anything is amazing compared to the 118 degrees that was in Phoenix that weekend). It was literally a torture to have to come back to the valley and deal with this NASTY monsoon season!!!

At the airport overlook. I was quite impressed we were able to snap a decent picture of 5 kids.

This is the best our little family could come up with!!

This picture pretty much summarizes our mini-vacation. Hanging out a grandma and grandpa's resort eating popsicles and swimming. The boys loved hanging out at the patio and they would scream high to EVERYONE that walked by.

Cory and I had been to Sedona once before, but only for a day. This time we drove around and got to know more of this beautiful city. We were just in awe with all the amazing views that the residents of Sedona see daily. It made us wonder if they even appreciate it and notice it, like we outsiders did.

Our little hotel was next to an outlet mall, so on Saturday we were even able to go shopping for a bit. We had not planned on it, but who can really pass up 65% off at the GAP? (Well, a very pregnant lady can, but her husband can't and there were some great deals for the kids too).

Last week Cory took Christopher to get his 3 year old pictures taken. I was busy with other things and was going to have to cancel the appointment, so he decided to help me out. I have to admit I was a little nervous of what the outcome would be, but they did great. I can't believe my baby is 3!! (Actually he's been 3 for over a month now).

He's been talking (like real sentence talking) for a while now, and now I have to deal with talking back. I didn't think this would happen until he became a teenager, but I guess I was wrong. Some days he's the sweetest little boy and I just love him to pieces. And then there are the bad days, that get me on my knees pleading with Heavenly Father for patience and ideas on how to be a better mother. Right now the main problem is that I don't have enough patience to deal with the lack of maturity and huge amounts of craziness this little guy has.

This (ugly) picture is for my mom. She's been bugging me to post a pregnancy picture. Here's me at 34 weeks.

I'm currently 35 weeks (4 weeks left until schedule c-section date). I can't stand the heat anymore and I'm officially unpleasant to be around. I whine and complain most of the time and I don't EVER want to be pregnant again. I think I can finally say I AM DONE (just need to convince my other half that WE are done).

This has been a fairly easy pregnancy, but I just go CRAZY when I'm pregnant. And I really mean crazy. My poor family should not have to suffer through mom being pregnant again!!!

I had my last baby shower this week, and my good friend (and visiting teacher) Ivana was kind enough to come over and take ALL of my baby stuff to her house to wash. At this point, I'm accepting all the help I can get. I'm getting really excited and ANXIOUS to meet this little girl. She is a mover and I can't wait to see her and get to know her personality.

I could go on and on about how I'm done being pregnant, and done with the summer, but this post is too long so I better finish here. I totally forgot I still haven't posted about the boys birthday party. I need to get the pictures on this computer and then I'll post about it.

Happy Father's Day!!! (belated)

I meant to post this on Sunday, but never got around to. I didn't get Cory a Father's Day card this year (I know I am terrible) and I had great plans of publicly expressing my gratitude to him of what an amazing father he is. Well, I guess it's never too late.

I just want to let the blogging world know how lucky I am to have married such a wonderful guy. Cory, you are an awesome father and the boys ADORE you. They look up to you and love playing with you. Some of their favorite games with daddy include: ridding the bull, hide and seek, and, and just having Cory run around the house chasing them. I am really blessed to have such a hands-on husband who helps out a lot with the kids!!!

So, for father's day Cory got a BIG (8 person) tent. And to celebrate, we took him camping (more like he took us). Yes, I know I'm crazy. I'm 7 months pregnant and I wanted to go camping. I swear it's the pregnancy hormones that make me this nuts. We've been married for almost 6 years and I have never agreed to let him take me out, and now that I am huge and uncomfortable I say "Let's camp!" Go figure?!

We went with another couple (the Lewis) and had a great time. The boys really enjoyed being able to run freely, I liked the cooler weather. I do have to admit I probably won't be doing this again so soon. I need to get over how dirty and dry my skin was!!! I think it was more the dryness that drove me nuts. So here are some pictures as proof that we actually camped.

Here we are!!

The boys drinking their milk in the morning. And the TENT!

Cute Christopher. He walked around our camp site like this all morning. We had to convince him to take it off becuase it was getting too warm.

Our morning entertainment. This squirrel just hung around for a while and the kids loved watching it. When it finally left, Drew kept saying "squirrel, where are you?"

Can you tell Drew was happy?

May???

Did I really not blog in May? I try to post at least once a month, but I guess I'm not that consistent.

Lets just get straight to business. Last weekend Cory and I had a little staycation. His mom agreed to watch the boys over night so we could get a hotel near the temple, wake up early and go to a session. When we left her with the boys Friday night she made the mistake to tells us "Don't rush." Oh we sure took that to heart!!! The waking up early turned more into waking up at 9:00. WOW, I think that was the highlight of my weekend, but the amazing breakfast buffet, followed by time in the temple just made the beginning of our holiday weekend AMAZING!!

On Monday Memorial Day we had my in-laws over for dinner. We usually go over to their house, but this year we decided to just do it at our place. Cory and I pulled out the Dutch Oven and made a yummy meal in it. We also had corn on the cob and peach cobbler. It felt like camping, only better!! I had running water and my comfy bed to sleep.

Christopher
How do I put this in a nice way? He's driving me crazy with his creativeness!! He turns 3 on Saturday, but he thinks he's 16. On Sunday we were driving up to my in-laws and this was our conversation in the car:

Christopher: "Mamae, I go swimming at grandma's?"
Me: "No, it's late, cold, and it's Sunday."
Christopher: "Ok. Papai, I go swimming at grandmas?"
Cory: "No, it's Sunday"
Christopher: "I ask grandma to go swimming"
Cory: "Grandma will say no, it's Sunday"
Christopher: "Ok, I go swimming by myself."

Just like that, a simple statement. He thinks he can do whatever he wants. He always asks first, but I don't even know why, because no matter the answer he still does whatever he feels like.

We have a few things planned for the summer including Summer Movie Fun and swim lessons. This week was the first time at the theaters for the movie fun. I go with a bunch of friends and their kids. And guess what? I was the only one to lose a kid. Guess what kid? Christopher!! He ran away at the end of the movie and left me and other 5 moms nervously looking for him. He literally disappeared for about 3 minutes. It was a VERY scary moment.

Drew
He's all of a sudden decided to talk. He repeats stuff we say and seems to talk non stop (specially if we're in the car).

He insists Christopher's name is also Drew. Funny, but very confusing!!
Here are some of his other funny words:

Keebee - binky
teddy - blanky
Buzz tu-tain - Buzz chu-chu train (Toy story 3 - it starts with a chu-chu train scene)
I did it (even when we are the ones that do it)
I she-she - I want to go potty (she-she is pee in Portuguese)

Today he pooped in the toilet for the first time!! I'm not pushing potty training, but the kids constantly takes his diapers off and runs to the bathroom door asking to go potty. Pee in the potty has become a constant, but poo, that was a first!!

He loves to play with Christopher. He is lost, when his big brother isn't around!! Christopher went camping with Cory and Drew was in complete distress. The kid didn't really laugh until Christopher got back. He was so happy to see him, that he hugged and kissed his big brother on his own.

Baby Girl
She is a MOVER!! My goodness this kid kicks and moves around ALL the time. Christopher moved a lot, specially when I was eating. Drew was a bit more quiet. He moved at night time. Baby #3 beats the boys by far!! She moves when I eat, she moves when I lay down, she moves pretty much anytime anything is touching my belly. I'm a little concern about all this activity. The trend tends follow after birth. Will I ever get a calm kid?

I'm 10 weeks away from my scheduled c-section. I'm getting bigger and more uncomfortable by the minute. I had my first baby shower this week, and I'm getting more and more excited about having a girl. I can't wait to put bows on her hair, and to finally be able to dress a baby in pink dresses!!

Big Boy(s)

My little boys have been growing so fast, and life has been so busy that I feel like I can never keep up with all the journaling I should do. By the time I get to sit down and write all the events and sayings from the kids I already forgot half of them, I wonder if it's even worth it at all.

Christopher:
Well, I feel like he is officially a BIG boy. For a while now he has been:
bottle free
crib free
binky free

And for a month now he's been
DIAPER free!!!

This is how he spends most of his time at home.
Potty training wasn't as bad as I expected, but definitely not something fun. It took 3 days of intense training and frustrating accidents, but after some bribery to take him to the ice cream store (AKA Dairy Queen), he even got the poop thing down!!!

He's been saying and doing funny things lately, but of course, I didn't write them down so I can't remember them all. The other day he got a shirt from the library for participating in their reading program. They only had medium or large shirts, so his shirt is quite big. When we got home I let him wear it. He immediately put his hands in the air and started twirling around saying "Look mamae, I'm a princess." I couldn't help but laugh. Seriously, where did you get that from? I guess the shirt fit him more like a dress.

This one happened soon after Christmas, but I never got to writing about it. I was at the mall with the boys and Christopher as usual just RUNS. So this day, he ran ahead of me and into Pac Sun. So I ran in the after him to find him totally dancing in the middle of the store. It was really funny. I made sure I would remember that one so when he's old enough to want to shop there I can run in and DANCE at Pac Sun to embarrass him.

Drew:
He's been super cute and good lately.
He's super attached to his binky and blanket. The other day he woke up and didn't want to take a bath without his blanket. I figured his blanky needed a bath too, so I let it go in. He was in baby heaven to be able to do that.


So here's what Drew needs to work on before baby 3 comes:
Become binky free
diaper free
crib free
move in to Christopher's room

This past week we've been working on being bottle free (I know he's almost 2 and still takes a bottle for milk). I think we have finally achieved that!!! If I can get him to leave his crib and sleep in Christopher's room before the baby come I'll be a happy camper. We can work on the rest later.

Speaking of Baby 3. IT'S A GIRL!!!!
We are excited for the change, and I can't wait to be done being pregnant. This pregnancy has been the easiest one so far, although for the past month I've been dying of pain on my tail bone. Yes the bone, not my sciatic nerve. Going to church for 3 hours is becoming VERY painful. I can stand or lay down without problem, but sitting is just painful. Oh well, 15 more weeks and it's over. (Holly cow, I didn't realize I was that close to my due date!!)

Hanging over my head

I've been wanting to blog about a bunch of short stories lately, but I've had these Christmas pictures hanging over my head, and I can't seem to blog about life, until I get my pictures done. So here!!! Now I can move one.

I threw a shower for my friend back in December and the theme was Jungle Animals. It turned out super cute. I guess I was feeling creative.

Christopher in front of his preschool on his first day of school. (Keep reading for more info)

Christmas with my family. Enjoying the lights and ride at the train park.

Mesa Temple lights. Somehow I didn't get any good pictures with my parents and siblings while they were here. :(

Christmas morning at the Garretts. Drew looks so tired.

Christmas eve. Boy, I miss looking that skinny!! These are the Fletts, our great Brazilian friends in our ward. This was the day we had the BIG family dinner. 22 people!!!!

The girls posing by the tree.

These pictures are not in chronological order, which bugs me incredibly!! Ward Christmas party. The boys with Santa (although you can't really see Santa's face.) If you look close enough you can see Drew has a butterfly on his chin. He fell and split his chin open on the fireplace that week.

Doesn't his smile say it all? He is soooo full of mischief!

We've been busy lately, but it's late and I don't want to blog all the details. Here are some of the short main points.

I turned 27 on the 27th!! My golden birthday!! I went out to dinner with Cory to a fabulous Brazilian restaurant. Then later during the week I got to celebrate with my girl friends at the Cheesecake factory. Easiest birthday yet!! Loved it!

Christopher started preschool last week. So far he's loving it and so am I. He goes twice a week for a few hours. My mornings are so much quieter when he's gone, and I can actually get stuff done around the house. Yesterday I got to clean out the garage while he was at school. It was awesome, I left the garage opened and Drew just played in the garage the whole time!!! That would never happen if Christopher was home. I would have to chase him around and threaten him a gazillion times before finally giving up. I love that boy, but he requires so much stimulation, I just couldn't provide it anymore. I hope things keep going this well.

Drew is finally talking more and more. It's still very hard to understand him, but we're happy with his progress.

Here are Drew's words at 19 months (funny to compare the list with Christopher's at 15 months):

Mamae - mommy

Papai - daddy

all duh

buba - bottle

acua - water

doggy

ca - car

ba - ball

bu - Buzz (he LOVES Buzz Lightyear)

tatch - catch

Jesus

ights - lights

soes - shoes

what's that

I know he says a few more things but that's all I can remember. He speaks his own language most of the time.

Ok, it's way too late to keep going. Funny Christopher stories will have to wait until next time. Hopefully by the next time I post I'll also have a 100% on the baby gender.

A Rough January

I'm hoping this will be just a quick post to tell the blogging world, we're still alive.

We've had a rough beginning of year, to say the least.

My whole family came to Arizona for Christmas. We had a blast spending time together with all the cousins. Cory and I accommodated 12 people (including us) for about a week, and I was impressed with how smooth it all went. Christopher really LOVED having a full house and always having someone to play with. Amongst a few of our accomplishments were hosting Christmas eve dinner for 22 guests, Laura's baptism (Alvaro's oldest), visits to the train park, temple lights, and Jump and Shout. Oh how I miss them!!!

Then, there was New Year's Eve. AHHH!! Drew got the flu, then Christopher got it, and then I got it. Every night we added one more person to the puking list. I did so many loads of dirty sheets, I can't even remember what the grand total came up to. I know that I averaged 1 load of throw up per day for about 10 days. Drew's flu turned into a cold, that turned into double ear infections with pink eye, that turned into bronchiolitis. All followed by Christopher. Fun!!

When the kids finally recovered (around the second week of January) I found out we are in for MORE FUN!! Haha, Cory and I are EXPECTING again!! Surprise!!! At least it was for me. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and hanging in there.

Along with all the other craziness, we sold our Tucson (I'm sad) and bought a Honda Civic. Cory's enjoying his "new" car, specially since it's a stick. I miss my baby, but we need to cut back on gas costs, and the Civic is definitely more efficient.

I don't have pictures ready to post. So I promise to add lots of pictures to my next post, whenever that happens.