"Why is she so ugly?"

Magazine with Lady Gaga at the front page and Ian looking at her: "MOM, WHY IS SHE SO UGLY?" (me) "Why do you think she is ugly?" (Ian) " 'Cause she is showing her belly and I don't want to marry her. She is NOT MODEST." (me) "Good, Ian. I don't want you to marry her either." (lol) (Ian) "I like this one here." [pointing at other picture of a nice dressing girl] (me thinking) "I hope he always thinks that way..."

ONE YEAR OLD!

That's right, my little peach is growing up.

She is now one year old. She is so cute. We had a "big celebration" for her. We started the day singing at all times HAPPY B-DAY DEAR HANNA! We went to Chuck E'Cheese. Of course Nicole and Ian were in heaven. Our good friends the Jaffers came along with us. We all had a blast. Even though Hanna didn't play any of the games she ate ate ate A LOT! She even had her first COTTON CANDY. After a long day we came back home and had cupcakes. She of course didn't know how to blow the candle. HOWEVER she did suprise us all by learning a few new words. For a moment we lost Ian in Chuck E'Cheese. I was calling him and she was calling him along with me. It was so cute, but because I was so scared I couldn't celebrate right that moment. She kept calling him anyway and when we found him we all made her feel extra super special for her skills.

She can walk, but still prefers to crawl. She can say some words. We don't even think she knows the meanings, HOWEVER she uses them over and over. :)

A DONE, UH OH, NIGHT NIGHT, AK-KIU (thank you) asha (gracias) are the words that she can say. It is very cute to hear her talk. Of course the one that we know she can say KNOWING the meaning are MOM, DAD, IAN and we are working on Nicky. She said yesterday twice icky for Nicky but she hasn't said them since. :(

She is a great baby girl. She is always so full of smiles. However, when she can't get what she wants she immediately screams like mad at the situation. She loves her siblings and she loves that we all love her. There is no time that we are outside that somebody will stop me just to let me know how cute she is. She knows that and immediately pulls out her talents by smiling at the person who just noticed how cute she is. She loves playing peek-a boo with everybody which always gets her more attention (especially at church).

HAPPY B-DAY, HANNA BANANA! WE LOVE YOU! YOU ARE SUCH A CUTE BABY AND WE FEEL SO BLESSED THAT YOU ARE PART OF OUR FAMILY. :)

Spring Break!

We weren't planning on doing anything for Spring Break, but out of nowhere my friend Robyn asked me if it was okay for her to come visit for their vacation. I of course was so happy to hear that we were having more visitors, especially for this long week.

She came on Wednesday and left Saturday. We had fun and enjoyed her visit. The kids got the chance to reconnect. We went to the Zoo, neigborhood park, and Chuck E'Cheese. We had a ball. It was so interesting to see how well Max talks. Last time I saw him he could only say "oh-hu." We watched movies and had long talks. Glenn joined us in most of the moments. Now everything is back to normal. Thank you Robyn for your visit and generosity. We miss ya and love you. :) (Ian was mad that our time in the Zoo was almost done).

Hurray for the good memories.

Some of the great benefits of moving so much is that you get to know all kind of people. After you move you don't have to keep in touch with the people that you don't like or feel identified with. Of course you can always choose what kind of people you wanted to have in your circle of friends, but it's kind of nice to adjust that with each move.



Living in College Station was lots of fun and full of great friends. Jill Barton is one of those friends that I made in C.S and I still keep in touch with. Today she invited us over to her in-laws' house who live btw a few minutes away from here. She lives in Lubbock. I can't believe that after those many years we could talk about everything just like old times. She is a great girl and has two great boys. The kids had a blast and Hanna was nuts with all that space to crawl around in. She does walk, but prefers crawling. Jill's husband is doing his M.D. They will be suffering through the horrible match thing next year. I'm sure they will do just fine. We talked about our special situation and how even though we were destroyed for the first couple of weeks, we now know it was for the best for our family to go this way. Glenn is enjoying whatever little thing that he does for Anesthesia, and can't wait to start his residency there. We talked about how hard it is for surgeon and specialists that require tons of time and effort to keep a sane family. It is tough and after this year of residency Glenn has told me that he was never meant to be a surgeon. Even though he still thinks plastics is awesome, he also thinks that it wouldn't have helped our family, and it would've made seeing our kids grow up and being involved with their lives would have been something hard to do. We had a great talk and were coming back and forth with our conversations. We both agree that C.S was a very special place and how hard it's been to make good friends after it. I've been blessed. I have recognize that I have met more people and just a few of them have been so important in my life that I keep in touch with them.

After we move I might go and see her in Lubbock. She mentioned a couple of places that I want to go and have fun with my hubby and kids.

Who would have known? After all these years, on the way back to our home, Nicky told me she remembered Jill's son from Nursery and how well they played. Oh, the good memories:)

Spanish lesson

I WANT = QUIERO
WATER = AGUA
MILK = LECHE
EGGS = HUEVO
PLEASE = PORFAVOR
Those are the basics that Nicole and Ian know about Spanish. It works perfect when somebody that doesn't speak English is around.
Today Nicky felt down and injured her chin. We were driving around and she told me "MOM SINCE I INJURED MY CHIN WOULD YOU PLEASE BUY ME A TOY" I told her "NO COMPRENDO NO ENGLISH NICOLE" I saw her face thinking, and thinking, and thinking and getting frustrated and then I told her in Spanish "IF YOU WOULD PAY ATTENTION YOU WOULD KNOW THAT TOY MEANS JUGUETE" and of course I could see the little mouse in her brain working as hard has it could "MOM QUIERO UN JUGUETE!"

I guess when she wants she can really learn fast:)

Abuelita is here!

We just came from the spa and when I say we I'm referring to my handsome husband and me. The great thing? No sitter to pay beause MY MOM IS HERE! That's right, she came to visit us about a week ago. We are having fun with her around. She is sleeping in Hanna's bedroom. Hanna is sleeping with us.
Every morning, Hanna has decided to wake up around 7 or 8:00 a.m. She will call me, but my mom immediately will jump in to take her out of my room so I can sleep longer.
I have been waking up SO late every day. Yesterday the kids had candy for breakfeast, thanks to ABUELTIA (grandma in Spanish). Today they decided to color their faces with markers (good thing the markers that I have are washables).

Today Nicky was invited to her friend's b-day party. I was there until almost 6:00 p.m. and didn't have to worry about dinner BECAUSE MY MOTHER IS HERE. :)
She made one of my favorite dishes from Mexico. This afternoon after droping off Nicky while I was coming through the garage I could smell her unique and wonderful TORTILLAS DE HARINA (flour tortillas), one of her specialties. So far they are always a hit. Glenn came back earlier today (around 1:00 p.m.). He told me the same thing. "THE SMELL WAS JUST INVITIMING ME TO COME TO THE KITCHEN AND EAT, EAT, EAT!" As a matter of fact he is eating some of them right now while watching t.v. She is just amazing.
I have never enjoyed my mom's visit more than this time. She normally came while I was preggo or delivering a baby and way too sick. Now I can finally take her wherever she wants and I think she is also having fun.
Nicky is the cuttest 5 year old. She tries to speak English. Unfortunately she has such a thick accent that sometimes it's hard to understand, especially if she is trying to learn some new words.
Ian pretends that he is fine without my mom around, however everytime that we go somewhere with out her he is always asking for her to come and telling me how much he misses her. He just likes to play being the tough guy.
I can see how much Hanna loves my mom and how not to love her. Every time that she turns to see her, my mom already has a cookie for her, or milk, or something to entertain her.
She will be here for another week and then we might see her more after now that we will be moving closer to Monterrey.
We are hunting for a place to live for the next 3 years. As much as I would love to rent an apartament again, I think it's about time to rent a house. Anyway we'll see what we get. I can't believe our time here is expiring. :)

Happy b-day Ian!

Yesterday was my favorite boy's b-day. Ian is so smart. He started talking before he was a year old. He has been always so aware about what is going on around him. He is so competitive and quick to catch up, so determined, so amazingly stubborn. He can easily pull strings to make me so angry or to make me laugh. He loves his sisters SO MUCH! He is so protective from all of us. He really takes his roll as the man of the house very seriously, but when Daddy is around he becomes again a little spoiled boy. I love his wild imagination; from being a prince who rescues the princess, to being a lion that bites his mommy's butt.
Like I mentioned before, he is so stubborn. I tried to potty traing him when he was 2years old, but he just didn't want to go. Since then I explained to him why it was so important "to go potty." Little by little, he saw the benefits of "going potty" : going to school, having more friends, not having to use rash lotions, so many benefits that he was missing, not including the fact that he was going to be able to wear the coolest underwear (just because Mommy picked them). Finally Nicky, had her b-day and he was so excited about her b-day that he couldn't wait to have his very own Spiderman b-day. Nicky told him that if he wanted to have a b-day cake he needed to be potty trained. He knew when his b-day was: 4 months after hers. 2 months ago he started to realize that his b-day was coming "very" soon. One day he just told me he was ready to stop wearing diapers...AND HE DID IT! Of course now that he is "A BIG BOY" he is asking for his Spiderman cake. My mom is in town and we made him a Spiderman cake for his b-day. I thought it was going to be so easy...MAN, I was wrong! Nobody told me that getting a true red color for cakes is almost impossible. We didn't get to sleep until 2:00 a.m., but it was totally worth it. The cake looked great and the red looked decent. Ian was so happy on his b-day. His face was priceless when he saw all his gifts and the decoractions that my mom and I made for him. Not to mention that he just loved his Spiderman cake.
I love when he is laughing and comes to me and hugs me and tells me, "MOMMY, I'M SO HAPPY!" Then of course I always ask, "I'M GLAD, BUT WHY ARE YOU HAPPY?" to which he answeres, "MOM I'M SO HAPPY BECAUSE I'M HAPPY!"
I love his surprised/confused face everytime he sees Glenn coming back from the hospital in his scrubs or white coat. He always asks him the daily question, "DAD, ARE YOU A DOCTOR?" Glenn would answer with a "YES," then Ian runs to brag and inform us all, "HEY, GUYS. DAD IS A DOCTOR!!"
I love that he invented a new number to go potty. "DAD, I'M MAKING NUMBER ONE...NO, WAIT! NUMBER TWO, TOO...NOOO, WAAAITT! I THINK IT'S A NUMBER FOUUURRR!! (gross but hilarious)
I love that he gets so easily distracted. "IAN, IT'S TIME TO GO TO BED." (Ian) "NO MOM, I DON'T WANT TO!" (screaming,crying,kicking,pushing) (me or Glenn) "HEY, IAN. SO DO YOU WANT YOUR BLANKY OR NICKY'S?" (Ian with a puzzled face) "MY...BLANKY..."(thinking to himself with a confused face, trying to remember when he "agreed" to go to sleep). Then we give him his blankie, and he will rub it on his lips doing while making a puppy whining noise...with his puzzled face (lol).
HE's also always thinking about others: when he gets a snack or treat, he always asks for another one for Nicky. He also always tries to his sisters involved in the game or show or activity that he's involved in.
I LOVE YOU, IAN. YOU ARE THE BEST SON, THE BEST BROTHER, AND WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE MORE OF YOU THROUGH THE YEARS! WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH! Happy Birthday!