We've got the Power

Hurricane Ike continued to affect several of our friends right up until this past Sunday when power came back to most of their houses.  Since we got power back last Monday, we invited friends over to do laundry or stay the night if needed.  The Dolibois took us up on this offer and came over.  I have to admit, I was secretly glad they HAD to come over.  It was a great opportunity to catch up and spend some quality time together amidst doing loads and loads of laundry.  

Kim and I became close friends during our pregnancy as we were due just a few weeks apart.  Our babies who are now both 3 years old were born 6 weeks apart in 2005.  It has been so fun to see Lucas and Isa's friendship grow.  They are always delighted to see each other and constantly talk about the other.  

Lucas has tried to introduce Isabella to golf as he is an amazing little golfer and has been since before he was even two years old.  When he was around 18 mos. old, the boy hit the golf ball (luckily it was a plastic one) clear across the dining and living room and hit my cheek!  I couldn't believe he had such an amazing ability at such a young age.  Anyway, despite Lucas's attempts to teach Isa about golfing, she really just likes picking up the golf balls for him.  Isa on the other hand, was able to show some girly activities to Lucas and showed him all about wearing pink helmets, riding purple bicycles and best of all, putting on lip gloss.  They were in a closet giggling away as they put on their lip gloss.  Hilarious.

Isabella's latest "thing" is to ask por que?  Por que, Mami?  Por que?  Everything is why, why why.  Bret thinks it's great because it shows how she is learning and she's thinking things through inside that little brain of hers.  He of course only sees her for a few hours out of every day, so he doesn't listen to it CONSTANTLY.  I try to be patient, but boy oh boy, no one ever said that was one of my virtues.  Why?

Hurricane Vacation

We are still on our mandatory vacation.  We are due to get power back at our home tomorrow, Monday!  I hope that this is true as we are headed back.  We have been away from our home for an entire week.  While our stay with my parents has been delightful, I am ready to get back to our home routine.  

For the rest of our vacation week, we visited with Abuelita Sonia by meeting her and her co-workers for lunch downtown.  It was a beautiful day, so we sat outside and took a walk around the plaza with fountains and a great park for the kids to play in.  

Tio Christian has been Isabella's idol for the week.  Anything he says, Isa says "Amen" to!  It's nice when I can't get her to do something (like take a bath or get dressed) and he asks her to do so and she happily obliges.  Despite their 7 year age difference, they have a blast playing together.  

Of course a play date was in order, so we met fellow evacuees and high school friends, Tiffany and Erin with their respective kiddos at a local park.  The kids had a lot of fun playing together and then the biggest treat of all - McD's.  I personally don't really care for McD's and honestly can't remember the last time I had been there - maybe 10 years ago?  It wasn't so bad, but definitely not in my top 10.  What can I say, I'm a CFA girl.

Isabella celebrated her 3rd birthday in August and her grandparents opted to give her a beautiful birthday present: her very first bicycle!!  She is so excited and will be even more excited once she is riding it with the elementary school neighbors who she sees riding their bikes every afternoon after school lets out.  

Mee-maw came into town and took Isabella shopping for her bicycle and some new clothes for school.  Diego of course scored some cutie outfits as well.  On Saturday, we went to Bret's parents' lake house and enjoyed some waterskiing, grilling out, pool time and hanging out.  It was a great day.  Tio Christian really enjoyed being pulled by the boat in the Airhead.  To quote Christian, "This is awesome!!"  The Airhead is the fancy version of an inner tube.  

All in all, this has been a great vacation for Isabella, Diego and Tio Christian.  Eating donuts, watching movies, skiing, swimming, bike riding, spending some quality time with the g-parents.  I think that sounds like a pretty good deal!  

Mandatory Vacation

Mee-maw, can you read me this entire book?  I love Mickey Mouse.

Me encantan las telenovelas (I love soap operas).

We're monkeys, we're monkeys!!

Mama: Check out those huge (hairy) hippos!  

Isabella:  I like the fishies.
Aren't we cute! 

Right up until Friday, Bret had been working some serious hours.  Then Ike came.  We are fine and have no damage.  But, our home is still without power.  So, what is a family of four to do when on a mandatory vacation?  Get some good family time in of course!

Mee-maw and Grandpa visited us at my Dad's house on Sunday night.  Isabella was delighted.  She asked Mee-maw to read and read and read to her.  Mee-maw happily obliged.  

Abuelitotito Juan has really enjoyed our visit thus far and is spoiling his grandkids accordingly.  He has been giving Isabella a glass of chocolate milk every morning along with two cookies.  Talk about unhealthy!  Talk about Isabella loving it!  She also has become a novela (Mexican soap opera) addict.  She loves to watch them in the evening and you can see in the picture above how she won't take her eyes of the television!  (We don't allow TV at home for those of you that don't know).  

Isabella's been hanging out with cousin Ethan who is also 3 years old a lot this week.  We went over and had a playdate.  Ethan tried to show Isabella how to swing a baseball bat.  She was much more interested in which color ball was being pitched to her and would rather collect the balls than actually attempt to hit them with the bat.  Ethan, on the other hand, is really good at baseball and hits the balls over the fence.  

We also went on a family outing to the zoo.  Isabella didn't like the zoo as much because it wasn't "her" zoo.  By then end she'd forgotten all about that and really enjoyed herself.  We met up with Ethan and his mom, Elise along with some of Elise's friends who are fellow evacuees.  The kids had a great time.  Diego stayed in the stroller for the most part and enjoyed the different little waterfalls along the zoo.  

We have been told that we still don't have any power in our neighborhood, that gasoline is getting hard to come by as are fresh fruits and veggies, and milk.  So, we've decided to stay on our mandatory, unplanned, family vacation.  We have had Bret all to ourselves for almost a week!  What a treat.  

Aftermath

Before - next door neighbor's
After - same next door neighbor's


Oak tree in front of our house!!

Succinct version: We're OK.

Longer version:

Friday: We went about our business as though it was a normal night with the kids and stuck to our usual routine.  Dinner, bath, bed time.  We put the kids down in their usual rooms and beds.  No sense in freaking them out and having them get a bad night's rest.  We moved some furniture around the house away from windows and different breakable things.  Bret and I sat down to watch a movie on TV.  Around 11pm Friday night, September 12th, the electricity went out.  Our movie date was over.  We moved Isabella to a palate we had made next to our bed in the master bedroom.  Around 2am Diego woke up - I nursed him and then put him back to sleep in a pack-n-play in our closet.  The whole thing was really cool, eerie and scary all at the same time.  The winds picked up some massive speed.  When you lie down in our bed and look up through our window all you see are trees - as if you were in the forest. Normally, this is a really beautiful, calming sight.  But on Friday night the sight of the pine trees just blowing and blowing was not giving me a sense of peace.  The wind picked up speed and the trees were swaying and threatening to give way to the wind and fall on us at any moment.  That's when we took refuge in our hallway.  Bret moved Isa's twin bed into the hallway which is where he and I slept.  We moved Isa in her palate to the hallway as well.  Diego stayed in the closet.  Away from the wind and with complete dark, we slept great until around 8:00am.  

Saturday:

The true aftermath.  We woke up to the phone ringing to folks calling to check in on us.  Thanks for calling and checking in!  It is nice to know that people were worried and praying for us.  We only answered family phone calls as we didn't want to use the battery on our cell phones too much.  The power was still gone, but we had running water.  We went walking down the street to check things out.  A big oak tree from our next door neighbors fell onto our yard.  Lots of limbs, pine needles and of course pine cones fell into our yard.  But, no major damage.  Unfortunately a sweet, older couple two houses down had an oak tree fall straight into their den!  They had tarps and buckets and different neighbors had been by to help them out.  Wow.  Bret said they were in good spirits.

Since we have a gas stove, we cooked ourselves a delicious breakfast of omelettes with onions, red bell peppers, ham, and cheese.  Delish.   We used up most of our milk and Isa had a special treat of chocolate milk.  She thinks hurricanes are great if it means chocolate milk!  Oh, and a complete side note, she calls the hurricane Mike.  

During the kids nap time, we worked on the yard cleaning it up, but are definitely not finished!  There is still lots of work to be done.  That evening we had some friends come over for dinner.  They brought over the food and we cooked it on our stove.  We had kung pao chicken with rice while the kids had breaded sour cream chicken, asparagus and rice.  Pretty yummy hurricane food!  

We chose not to take baths since the water had very little pressure at this point and the Mayor said that it had been compromised (whatever that means!).  Isabella had a really hard time going to bed.  Apparently she is afraid of the dark!!  We should have known seeing that we almost always leave her light dimmed for her, but it's usually with the excuse that she is reading books - which she does read about 2-5 books to herself any given night.  I usually check in on her and Diego before we head to bed and turn out her light.  

We had some friends who live near the Beltway and had electricity.  The Walters kindly let Bret come over to store some freezer items and to charge our phones.  

Sunday:

We woke up with the daylight and decided to keep on sleeping!  The day was drizzly and overcast.  The water pressure was even less and our toilets were not flushing. Yep, definitely headed out of town.  We packed up and left and are now in air conditioning again!  We've talked to some neighbors who say that the power is still out.  Apparently it can be out anywhere from 2-4 weeks.  Wow.  

We are just so thankful that the trees that did fall mostly fell onto the streets.  It was a neat adventure and experience (especially in hindsight).  Nature is incredible.  It makes it so clear how little control we have.  We can be wiped out in just a matter of hours just like that.  Amazing.  Clarity.  Thank you God for our awesome shelter and for sparing us the hassle of dealing with a damaged home.  

8 months

Diego turned 8 months old on the 9th of September.  Here are 8 facts about Diego.  

1. He is a true Mama's boy.  

He seriously only has eyes for me.  If he is being held by anyone else and I walk into the room, he gets upset - as if to protest, "How dare you leave me?"  And let's say Bret is holding him, every time I walk by, he'll reach out his arms to try to get me to hold him!  It makes me have all kinds of feelings.  Part of me finds it really endearing, and loves it.  I mean it's nice to be so loved that only I can fully take care of him and make him happy.  But at the same time, it would be nice to just be able to pass him off to anyone.  I also feel as a Mexican, that boys should have a very special relationship with their mamas.  So...I hope that he always is close to me and that as he grows older he confides in me.  

2. He loves fruit.  He likes veggies.  He doesn't like rice.

I started Diego on solids when he turned 6 months.  He did not take well to it for the first month.  He pretty much arched his back the second I would get a bib out or get his spoon out.  Slowly, he's learned to like food and has definitely decided that he much prefers the sweet.  He loves mangos, pears, bananas, cantaloupe, blueberries and apples.  He will eat veggies - some more than others.  He prefers carrots and sweet potatoes.  He will tolerate beets, green beans, broccoli, and kiwi (if mixed in with something else (same with avocados)). He doesn't like brown rice at all.  I can get him to eat it only if I mix it with something else and even then he eats the food slower than usual.

3. He loves bath time.

Diego loves to take a bath.  He takes one every afternoon - usually after one of his messy feedings.  He likes his water temperature very warm and loves to splash and splash.  His legs start kicking and getting very excited at the mere sight of the bath water running.  Lately he's really enjoyed holding a red cup whilst splashing around.  He hates getting dressed after he's been toweled off and starts screaming like no other.  But he does enjoy the lotioning up of his sweet skin.

4. He's officially a thumb sucker.  Did you know you needed both your hands to suck one little thumb?

It's kind of funny.  I thought that thumb suckers were basically born sucking their thumb.  Not so.  Diego started out with a paci which he took to relatively ok.  But as he started sleeping better, we would notice that the pacifier was no longer in his mouth, instead the thumb was in place.  It's really cute - I love it!  So, we are pacifier free (and have been for about 2-3 months).  It's really cute how he sucks his thumb too.  He'll be sucking his left thumb usually and get his right hand over his left hand to ensure that the thumb stays in place.  

He also uses his thumb conveniently when he doesn't want the food you are offering him.  Most kids turn their heads or shake.  Diego just puts his thumb in to ensure that nothing else will come in contact with his little mouth.  What a sucker!

5. He found out that sleeping is good!

He finally started napping on a somewhat consistent schedule.  He naps twice a day for about an hour - two hours each.  And he sleeps from 7pm -4:30am, 4:50am-7:30am.  Not bad.  We'll take it.  

6. You're wondering if he's sitting up or crawling or even pulling up?

The answer to all is NO.  I think this kid is smart.  He knows that I do everything for him, so why rush the independence factor.  He'll just allow me to tote him around everywhere.  He does roll to get his toys and enjoys that somewhat.  He's really into the jumperoo.  You know, the one that attaches to the door frames.  He loves it.  And like every other kid under the sun, he loves the Exersaucer too - particularly the star thing on there.  He always goes for that first.  

7. Does he have teeth?

Nope! Not a one.  He's all gums.

8. He loves his big sister.

Isabella has been in love with Diego since the day she met him.  She loves talking to him and about him.  She loves playing with him.  She loves helping with anything we need.  For a long time, she was the only one that could pick out the diaper that we were going to put on him.  Recently, Diego is more and more into Isabella and interested in what she is doing.  He loves watching her and enjoys it when she's right next to him.  He anxiously watches her while she eats her meals.  It's super cute.

Preparing for Ike

Hurricane Season is upon us.  Living in Southeast Texas, we are frequently threatened to be affected by hurricanes.  Currently we are amidst Hurricane Ike.  We already had Edouard (who messed up his spelling?), Gustav, and now Ike.  We are praying that Ike doesn't hit us directly and perhaps dissolves or turns to head another way (but please not New Orleans again).  

We have decided, along with practically our entire neighborhood, to stay put.  There are only two houses on our street that have boarded up - neighbors directly south of us and neighbors directly east of us.  We have put everyone to work in preparing for this hurricane.  Bret and Isabella toured outside our house and put away the swings on the swing set, and put away our patio furniture, trash bins and any other items of that nature that are usually outside.  Really, Isabella is just delighted to have some Papi (Daddy) time and rode her tricycle on the driveway. Inside Diego helped us out by napping.  Later during the day, Isabella helped fill up all our water bottles so that we have plenty of water.  Once Diego woke up from his nap, he was hungry and ate 4 cubes of food - blueberries, kiwi, and melon.  The babe loves his fruit!

I did not do a mad dash to the grocery store as I feel that we have plenty of water and plenty of food already.  We were sure to fill up our cars with gas in case we need to leave out of town.  We have our flashlights on hand.  We have charged our computers and phones.  We will likely watch movies on our computers if the power goes out and play games.  Thankfully we live in a neighborhood that has good drainage systems, and our house is a one story house made of brick.  Our biggest concern is the winds causing the pine trees to fall on our house.  Hopefully that won't happen.  

Out With the Old, In With the New

Purging

That is what I've been doing with my closet.  These bags may not look like a lot to you, but boy did I seriously clean out my closet!  I am not much of a shopper seeing that shopping takes time and requires spending money.  Having children, however, made me realize how old my clothes were and how out of style I was.  Not to mention, I was wearing clothes that really weren't flattering to me any more.  Having children makes you ebb and flow as to your body shape and size.  Thus, those short shirts that were in style not that long ago, now seem even shorter and look even more faded.  I think it's something about the pants being lower waisted now so the shirts are having to compensate and be longer in order to cover that lovely Britney Spears butt crack look.  And so I went on a shopping spree of sorts and bought some new clothes - long shirts included!

Back to purging.  I think having lived in an 1100 sq. foot house with three other people really makes you realize that we have too much stuff and that we don't really need a lot of it.  I grew accustomed to having really small closets and am trying to keep the same mentality now that we have more closet space.  It would be easy for me you see, to use the three practically empty closets in our house to store these old clothes.  But, alas!  I am keeping those closets clothes and clutter free because honestly, if you haven't worn something in over a year - what is the likelihood that you're going to wear it again (barring being pregnant and all that jazz)?  Those bags are long gone and have been given to folks who will actually wear the clothes!

I encourage all of you to go through your closet and eliminate!

24 Adults, 16 Kids

Isabella - Port Aransas 2006

Isabella - Port Aransas 2007
Isabella - Port Aransas 2007
Diego - Port Aransas 2008
Isabella - Port Aransas 2008

Diego - Port Aransas 2008

We have an annual tradition of going to Port Aransas over the Labor Day weekend holiday with friends from the University of Texas. It is a fun tradition and amazing how much it has grown. We used to go in college and all stay in one, maybe two condos. This year, we were 24 adults and 16 chillens thus upping the condo number to 6!

Despite the threats of Gustav ruining our much anticipated weekend, we had perfect weather with no rain, and lots of sun. We did have a mean case of mosquito attack, but it wasn't anything a little bug spray couldn't take care of. Unless of course your name is Isabella and you're apparently super allergic to some cocktail mix of bug spray, sunscreen, soap, salty water, chlorine water. Isabella was a trooper and didn't let the horrid rash bug her. She had a good time playing with all the other kids in the sand, in the pool and at the playground. Diego enjoyed the feel of the sand on his feet and hands, but wasn't too excited at having sandy thumbs to suck on. He is not yet crawling or sitting up, so his options were a bit limited.


We had the toddler races again this year. Isabella did not throw a tantrum like last time (see video on Tricia's blog from August/September 2007), but she chose to once again not participate. Everyone was well prepared this year with bribery for winning. Candy, M&M's, fruit roll up, trucks, etc. Apparently all the bribery didn't matter too much, the same boys kept winning over and over - they were the oldest and the tallest - Luke & Mason.


We also took the cute picture of the future Longhorns. Unfortunately I do not have those pictures to post and am awaiting those pictures along with the group picture from others as I didn't get either of those on my camera.


Thanks to everyone for coming and for all the fun sandy, chlorine filled memories!