May Family Visits

Aunt Stacie and Mike visit!

Visit to the Law Enforcement Officers Memorial

"Roar!"

Stacie and Mike look for the names of Officers from Rochester, NY


Making rubbings of the names


Close up!


"Cheese!"


Smile!


Graduation Weekend

Marisol all dressed up, the purses and bags are all part of the preparation!


There he is!


Grandpa BG, Aunt Stacie, Mike, Nonna Gigi, Aunt Stephanie, Will
Marisol


Family Shot!


Watching the construction!


Cute Cousins!



Dinner on the river at the Sequoia



Post-dinner walk



Congratulations Daddy, you did it!





The May Women


Checking out the elephants at the Zoo

Grrrrr!!!

In my new Dora swimsuit from Aunt Stacie, it is a regular part of bathtime now!

It takes a lot of gear to go out in the rain!

The Crazy Month of May!

So the month of May has been a busy and crazy one for us! (kind of like us busy and crazy Mays ) June is looking to be just as much fun...

First Mike's sister, Stacie, and her boyfriend, also Mike, came to visit for a weekend. We had a lot of fun checking out some of the DC sites with them and eating yummy food. One memorial that we visited that was really cool was the Fallen Officers Memorial. I had never seen it and it is really pretty and well done. It was all the more interesting because Mike (Stacie's boyfriend) is a police officer in Rochester and they found all of the names from the Rochester department.

The next weekend was Mike's graduation and we had more visitors: Nonna Gigi, Grandpa BG, Aunt Stephanie and Will came from Chicago, and Aunt Stacie again! It was a great weekend - the weather cooperated - it was hot, but we didn't have any of the showers that were predicted. It was the perfect way to celebrate the end of business school. It is hard to believe that Mike is finished and that we have been here for almost 2 years! Mike's ceremony was very nice and the reception was in the new (BIG) business school building on Georgetown campus. Unfortunately he didn't get to enjoy the building at all during his time here, but they did finish in time for the reception! Marisol had a lot of fun with her cousin Will, we went out to eat a lot again, the zoo, and enjoyed seeing all of our family.

Memorial day weekend we headed up to New Jersey to meet my sister, Laura, her boyfriend Tim, and my parents. Laura and Tim did a house exchange with their tenant - her parents came up to stay at their house for graduation weekend at Cornell, and we got to use their AWESOME beach house. It was a great deal for us! The weather was nice and Marisol loved the beach!

Now we are in the process of packing. We are getting ready to move to a new apartment 2 weeks from now! It is a basement apartment and a little bigger than what we are in now. It has 2 bedrooms (we are ready for another bedroom!), laundry (this is HUGE, especially with baby #2 on the way and back to cloth diapers!) and my favorite -- we can use the backyard! There is a nice patio and we will be able to grill. Plus there is a playground practically in our backyard, and the post office, grocery store, library, and several other restaurants/stores are all in walking distance. Perfect for a stay at home mama without a car! yay!

I will post some pictures of all the fun times we have been having...

More "Marisol-isms"

"Pee-me!!" When she is on the potty (instead of PU!) Also funny -- "P- daddy, P- mommy!" As in we all stink! We love potty humor.

In the same vein -- she was singing "Do Re Me" the other day (Sound of Music was one of her first favorites! My mom, dad, and I got a big overdose of it on one of our rides from Rochester to DC -- we could probably all go years before seeing/hearing that one again!) anyways.... she started changing the words to "Do Re YOU!" It is so funny!

"Mommy, I love your big tummy! I love your big dress!" (what a compliment!)

"Amarillo, get set, go!"

Marisol: Mommy, you look like a princess... is that a dress? (I had a blue maternity tank top on with some ruffles)

Me: No it's a shirt, but it kind of looks like a dress, huh?

Marisol: I like your shirt and pants. You look like a princess (sugary sweet smile)

I love that she compliments me already! :-) AND she says "I love you" a lot lately which of course melts my heart -- whether it is to me or some other loved one.

A little Late!

In my first trimester slump I never posted pictures from Thanksgiving. Marisol had so much fun with her cousins Will and Caroline! Here are a few pictures:

Running!!

Yum yum, Thanksgiving Dinner!

Chillin' in our chairs watching a video.

Three Peas in a Pod

Raking the Yard takes Teamwork!

Going for a walk

Baby Caroline

Tub Time!

We can't wait to see Will in a few weeks at Graduation!!

Funny Marisol comments and Easter pics!

So I guess this is a catch up day for me! I feel bad sometimes that I don't keep up with blogging/journaling/scrapbooking etc, on a more regular basis. But I figure anything I can do is better than nothing! It is so hot here today! I am sweating just sitting here at the computer, so it is a good day to "be still". Marisol is quite happy munching on some cool, healthy foods, and watching her favorite TV shows. And J is napping...

Marisol just cracks me up lately! She is so verbal it is crazy. And I don't notice the jumps she has made in the past 6 months to a year because we are together all the time. I'll try to think of things that have made me smile lately:

She says "Thanks!" to Mike and I all the time, and for the littlest, cutest things....

A couple of months ago she said about Daniel, her BFF (kind of, more like a pesky brother who she is on a break from right now :-)) "I want a family with Daniel". That really cracked me up!

She can count to 8 in Spanish now and has other spanish words - especially colors, "verde, rojo, azul, and amarillo", and "abre" for open, "sigue" for go... etc. All thanks to Dora!

She is constantly making up funny little stories, scenarios now....

I know there is more but I can't think of any of course! Which is why I would like to get better at recording all this stuff....



Easter Pics....

Update

So we are in a period of uncertainty right now. Mike has his last week of classes this week and finals next week. Three weeks from now his family comes here for graduation and the weekend after we are meeting my family at a beach house at Jersey beach! The past 21-22 months have FLOWN by, I can't believe he is almost done with school! The uncertainty is due to the fact that he hasn't found a job yet. So we don't even know where we will be 6 months from now!

But even with the uncertainty it is a time of great happiness and excitement. Our baby is due in just a little over 3 months! Hard to believe... this pregnancy is definitely going faster than Marisol's and I am starting to feel big now. Also I look forward to the changes that are coming even though we are not sure exactly what is in store for us. I am looking forward to my babysitting gigs winding down -- actually I haven't watched the little boy at all since his baby sister was born about 6 weeks ago. And I only have a little more than a month left with J, little almost 18 month girl. She is transitioning to daycare in June. I am hoping that Mike can at least find some temp work so we have some income. I am really looking forward to time for Marisol and I... it should be about 2 months of just us before baby #2 arrives on the scene to disrupt Marisol's little world . And it will be hot here and our building has a pool which I intend to take full advantage of! Marisol loves to swim and I am sure it will feel great when I am 8-9 months pregnant! She is ready for a break from having other kids here too. Our plan is to stay here at least till the baby arrives because we have insurance. If Mike doesn't get a job soon after that though, we will probably move home to be with family and save some moola! Rent here is crazy! So we have a plan and there are lots of happy things coming up so we are keeping things in perspective, even with the poor economy. Mike is really working hard and doing all he can to find a job.

Marisol is at a very fun AND challenging stage right now. Her imagination is just taking off -- we have imaginary friends (often Dora, Boots, and Diego ) with us at all times. And whenever we go anywhere she has to bring lots of STUFF -- it helps her get ready and make the transition. Her sleep is very erratic right now too. If she naps at all - even 25 minutes - she will be awake will midnight or 1! And if she takes a LONG, late nap then I know that I am going to be up even later! But if she makes it without a nap she will often go to sleep around 8 pm. It is challenging for me, but actually some of our most fun times are when she is up late. She is just at her best at this time, it seems to be her natural body rhythm. She will play for hours! And she does sleep late almost every day too usually at least 10 am. So we are managing! I do look forward to her making the full transition to no nap though, and hope that will at least give us a more regular sleep schedule.

Well I think that about does it! Life at the present for the Mays.....

Cherry Blossoms!

We went to the Cherry Blossom parade today and it was beautiful out! It was windy so not as warm as it could have been, but still so pretty.





I think this picture of Mike and Marisol is pretty cool because you can see the building reflected in the glass behind them. Notice Marisol's hot dog -- that was her "breakfast"



The Magnolia trees are beautiful! I think I like them even more than the cherry blossoms.


The White House


Pretty Patriotic Flowers


Cherry Blossoms





Marisol -- The Happiest she was all day -- to be going home!



And last but not least, a picture of our furry family -- the Care Bears and Ms. Katie