A year ago today...

A year ago today I couldn't sleep. I was franticly cleaning the house. I woke up at 5 am the following morning to know the fate of my child. August 20th would be his birthday.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:00 to be induced. I was so tired and tired of being pregnant. We were so excited to meet our little boy.

When he arrived, I thought he was so precious. He had the most quiet cry and loved to be snuggled close.

Chelsea was thrilled to have a little brother, but was very sad to leave her mommy and daddy at the hospital. I think the whole hospital heard!

He is a great nurser and still prefers me over a bottle. We often say that he is an old man with an old soul. Nathan has a lot of patience yet he knows what he wants and won't accept anything less.

We were so excited to have him home, but I must say that it was very tough with two children.

So on this eve of my son's birthday, I remember all the wonderful ways my life has changed because of him. I know that I am a better wife, teacher, and mother because of him. Happy Almost Birthday Nathan!

The life of Nathan...

I can now eat lots of big people food including hot dogs, bananas, grapes, strawberries, peas, carrots, and, of course my favorite, bread!

I love when my Mommy and Daddy play with me. I laugh when they throw me in the air, and I am learning new tricks too. I wave bye-bye, give high fives, play peek-a-boo, and find my nose and tongue. I can say airplane when I see one fly in the sky. My parents think I am very smart.

Everyone likes to dress me up to see how cute I am. They keep talking about a pirate mermaid party. Chelsea is super excited about it. All I want is some cake and maybe wrapping paper to play in.

Chelsea and I like to play together. Now that I can crawl we chase each other around the house. Most of the time she gets too rough and I call for Mommy to save me. I really like to get into things now. I can turn the TV on and off with a touch of a button, take artificial plants apart and see if they are edible, and open cabinets to see what fun things are hiding. All of this makes Mommy so excited that she calls me by two names ... NATHAN MARK!

I have also been busy making new teeth. I am now up to four with one more almost through. I love to try to use these new teeth to chew on everything. Steak and potatoes here I come ...

I love my kids!!!

I must say that I love my kids. I love the way Nathan says MaMa when he cries. I love the way when Chelsea wants something she smiles really big and bats her eyelashes. I love the way Nathan lays his head on my chest (something Chelsea never did). I love the way Chelsea enjoys me reading her stories and then "reads" them herself. I love the way Chelsea gets excited about parties and events. I love the way Nathan holds his arms out to me even though his Daddy has him. I love the way Nathan gets so proud of himself when he pulls up or cruises down the couch or gets into something he is not suppose to. I love the way Chelsea will say out of the blue, "I love you Mama." I love that I have a career that enables me to spend so much time with them and put them first. I am going to miss these wonderful summer days next month.

We were measuring Chelsea to see how tall she is - 40 inches. I swear this girl is all legs ... just like her Daddy said about her Mama.

Nathan was a great help in all of this.

Our proud big boy!

WE MADE IT!!

Well, it is official. We made it through two weeks of having two extra kids. Our house was a wreck and it was sometimes chaotic, but overall it went very smoothly. I must say that Mark made it much easier. We were able to go swimming three times (something I would not have done by myself with three children under 3). And now that it is all over, Chelsea and Mark are bored. I have realized that having two kids may be busy, but more than that just gets crazy. I enjoy giving both of my kids quality time and I missed that with having four. Overall, though we had a great time and are looking forward to next summer when they can come stay again ... maybe just for a week though!

Busy Weeks...

Our family has grown!! Well, for two weeks anyways. Our nieces, Madison (7) and Zoe (almost 2), have been daycampers with us while Mimi is recovering from surgery. We have been swimming, to Pump it Up, the movies, and this week to IT'Z, Houston Children's Mueseum, and more swimming. Chelsea has loved the extra entertainment and we have enjoyed all fun with them.

We even had pedicures! It was lots of girly fun.

Nathan's New Trick(s)

In the past week Nathan has become mobile. He has learned not only to crawl like his sister did with one leg out, but to pull up on everything. You can tell by his smiles that he is so proud of himself.

Here Nathan got stuck. He tried for a little bit to free himself and just resorted to crying for help.

He has a hard time going down for bed because he is busy pulling up and crawling.

Our busy boy. This just melts my heart.

Trouble with a capital T.

Our first family vacation - San Antonio

We were so excited to have our first family vacation of four in San Antonio. We were glad that it was a rather short road trip with two small children. We stayed in the Embassy Suites so we had a living room, with couch that made into a bed for Chelsea, and a bedroom for us and Nathan. It also had a small kitchen with a fridge and microwave. They include a complimentary buffet breakfast daily. It was perfect for us.

We arrived on Saturday and went to eat at Los Barrios restuarant. Chelsea was more excited for its playground than food.

On the second day, we ate breakfast at Mi Tierra, explored the river walk, both on foot and boat, and ended the day at Sonia and David's (not a restaurant, although could be with such great service!).

On the third day, we went to the much anticipated Sea World.

Here we are at Sea World waiting for the Shamu show to begin. All Chelsea could say was that SHE wanted to go into the big tank of water to swim.

When the show started, Chelsea was so excited. We had been talking about Shamu for a long time. She was really amazed, as were we.

Chelsea enjoyed climbing in the rocks and, of course, swimming best.

We had such a memorable first trip together. We are looking forward to many outings this summer and taking the kids another vacation next year.