Mylo and Milli

Mylo and Milli had their yearly check ups last week. A little late, but they didn't care :) These two are my little monkeys. Leah was always a bigger girl, although she doesn't look like it now. She was always tall and chunky, now she is just tall and average in weight.

Mylo was 25% in both weight and height. He has always been the same. Perfectly proportioned :) He passed his hearing test with flying colors and his eye exam as well. He was very good for Dr. Coombs AND was a total trooper when he got his three shots.

Milli was 25% in weight and 75% in height. I have always said, she is tall and thin just like her mom :) Ok, totally kidding. She did not like to be checked at all! She fussed and cried and wiggled all over the place. She wanted more than her deserved share of lollipops and was a little menace while Mylo was getting his check up. She only had to get one shot and once it was over she was just fine.

These two are very cute together. Mylo is a very sweet and patient brother with her. Milli is always teasing him or pulling him one way or the other. She has an iron grip and she will not let go of him. Mylo will just call for mom or dad, whoever is closer. When they play together its super cute and when Milli is tackling him its super cute too!

Date with Leah

A while ago, I said to Leah that maybe she needed a date with mom and dad. Her response was, "I think just dad, 'cause I am more attached to him!" Oh well, SORRY! It hurt but after I took the knife out of my sensative heart I was fine. There was a dance concert coming up a week or so later and I thought this would be a great opportunity for Leah and I to go do something we both enjoy doing... watch people dance. It was a really nice time. Leah is a fun girl with lots of great qualities. I miss just being the two of us more often. I so enjoyed her as a baby and hanging out with her. She was and still is a very bubbly girl. (Dave says we are a lot alike and that we are both social butterflies).

After the concert we went to Orange Leaf, a new yogurt place in town. Leah loved it, since she got to make her own concoction of yogurt ice cream and candy, lots of candy! It was also very later, well past her bed time and she thought it was fun to be the only young kid at the yogurt joint. She was being so silly and we had some great laughs over our treat. We made funny faces and took more pics and we also sat in some really tall stools that I had a hard time getting on. We had some great conversation and it was just fun!

I think the time alone with each child is so important. I know Leah felt special and I did too for being blessed with such a cutie pie. She has had such a great attitude since then. I love that little drama queen!

Fun @ Abuela's

A few weeks ago the kids and I went over to Abuela's after school. The backyard has a little stream that runs through it and it is very fun for them. Abuela and I just relaxed in the sun while the kids played. We put out a sprinkler and they ran through it bravely... it was very cold! They also played on teh swing set and Leah pretended to be an opera singer :) Good Times! It was a nice relaxing afternoon. When the weather gets warmer we will be out there longer.

Mylo: Pre-school Graduation

Mylo had his pre-school graduation on Wednesday. Mrs. Melanie is such a great teacher. I don't know how she can handle all those kids and still actually teach them! Mylo has learned so much from her. At the beginning of the school year Mylo was not loving school, but by the end of the school year he couldn't wait to get there! Remember, Mylo couldn't wait for the letter "z" to be the letter of the week because he wanted school to be out?!? All that changed :)


Mylo is a shy boy, but it has been wonderful to see him shine. The kids sang a few songs for us and also preformed a play for us, "Goldilocks and the three bears". There is a lot of kids for this play but Mrs. Melanie has a part for all of them. Mylo was the Baby Bear Bed and he had to say "this bed is just right!" He did a great job with his line :).


Mylo made two really good little buddies at pre-school. It was really nice for him to have boys to play with that are his age. All the kids his age in the neighborhood are girls, so this was a nice treat for him :) Mylo would play at their house or they would come over to ours. They will not be going to the same school next year, but I am sure they will see each other often during the summer.


Mylo came home last week with a little book with very simple words and was able to read it! I was very impressed, since I have not done ONE thing with him as far as teaching him to read or write. I am so grateful that Mrs. Melanie took Mylo on at the last minute. We love Mrs. Melanie!

We are proud of Mylo's accomplishments this year. Way to go Mylo!!!

I LOVE Dave!

When I am feeling down he always brings me up. He has to put up with me being a grouch the last few weeks of pregnancy and having to eat crappy food for the last month and a half. He makes me happy and makes me feel like I am still doing what I am supposed to be doing and that I am doing a good job at it. Maybe he is just a good liar :) but I love him for making me feel "up" when I am "down".

(The above picture was taken a few weeks ago by Leah)

Faces

Dramatic. Sweet. Copy Cat.
(Leah. Mylo. Milli)

Mylo: Park Day

Mylo had a park day at school last week. This is a fun day where Mrs. Melanie plans games for the kids and they have treats and its a great time just to have fun. Mylo had a great time.

Potatoe Sack races. Its fun to watch the kids try to figure these things out. Mylo fell as soon as he took his first jump, but once he figured it out he was getting to the finish line in a flash.

Three-legged races. This is no easy task for older kids so the kids had a hard time figuring out that they had to walk in-sync. Mylo and Spencer were quick once they got the hang of it.

Parachute games. This is fun. I wanted to join in too :)

This was also Mylo's "birthday day" at school so we took donuts for all the kids and they all sang happy b-day to him. He came home with a little present from teacher and a cardboard with all the special things his classmates think of Mylo. Here's what they said about him:

You're Special Mylo!

Mylo's favorite things:
All the colors of the rainbow, chicken nuggets, lions, video games

He has nice shorts. He has a cool shirt. He has awesome hair.
We like to jump on the tramp with him.
He is a fun friend and we like to play with him.
He colors nicely. He has nice flip flops.
He has big brown eyes.
He has a nice smile.

We love him!

I think it made him feel special that day... because he is!

updates...

I have a lot to update... but for now...

I am feeling large and slow! I don't have much energy past 3pm. Dinners are somewhat of a joke at this time and they are not helping my very large waist line (I don't have a waist line any more... but you know what I mean). My face, hands and feet are getting swollen and I can see my face has that "pregnant roundness". I know I am getting closer to the arrival of our baby... but time is moving VERY slowly! I need to keep busy, but I just don't have energy to stay busy.

Mornings seem to fly by and it feels like as soon as I am done with breakfast the kids are asking for lunch! To make matters worse I seriously dread having to do any sort of shopping so we have VERY limited kinds of food in the house.

I can't wait to have my energy back!!!!

Friends are just what a girl needs...

Last Saturday I had the chance to get together with some of my favorite friends. We don't get to see each other often enough, but when we do... its just like old times. We can catch up on what has been going on and we can always laugh and share new things. These girls were all in the RS presidency of the newly married ward Dave and I attended before moving to Bountiful, over five years ago! Anyway, we had a lovely time! I wish we could do it more often. They lift my spirits.

Side note: Alyssa (gorgeous blond next to me) always has a "pirate eye" in our pictures... this time, it was my turn! jajaja...Alyssa pointed it out and I think it is hilarious!

Family Portrait

This could be our Christmas card... but baby boy is missing!
Dang it! Perhaps we can try to replicate such great smiles.

My favorite is Milli's "crazy" face :)

This was Leah's idea to do some crazy face. I love it!

Happy 5th Brithday Mylo!!!

Today our sweet boy, Mylo turned 5! He has been waiting for his birthday for a while and I think it was worth the wait for this little five year old. He was as happy as the above picture shows :) . He got to do almost every thing he wanted to do today, with the exception of going to Legoland... he was however understanding that it was just a little too far to go there today.

We told him we would not be having a big party but we still made his day special and I think he felt it was that way. He got to pick were we would go for dinner and he picked Fire House Pizzeria (I don't care for that place..at least right now).

Before dinner he and Dave went to a BMX event and he had a good time watching the BMXers. There was a young kid doing some tricks and Mylo said, "wow, dad! that guy is a natural!" Mylo never fails to make us laugh, EVERY DAY!
He was showered with kisses all day and lots of love. Leah did not disappoint :) These two love to play with each other and sometimes they fight like cats and dogs... like a good siblings should, right?

Abuela joined us for dinner.... I can't believe this is a three generation picture. Milli looks out of place :)

Dave and his monkeys... Oh he is one lucky duck!

We feel so blessed to have this sweet boy to call our own. Mylo is such a sweet boy... always a good attitude and an old soul. His brown eyes melt us and we have to cave in to what he wants... we just can't say no to those eyes!

Abuela, Mylo, Leah and Milli

Nicholas, Alex and Karalee came to wish Mylo a happy day... and it was wonderful to see them! Mylo and Nicholas are three weeks apart and we hung out with them a lot when they were little. Mylo and Nicholas are good little buddies and always play well together... Chocolate and Vanilla... Oh how I love these boys!

Mylo was spoiled with some great Star Wars gifts and a safari truck from Abuela. Mylo really wanted a Star Wars Party like the one we had last year... but frankly I hardly have a desire to make a simple dinner... there was no way I was going to put a huge party together. Still Mylo got some great Star Wars Lego sets and a book that he has been wanting for a long time. :)

Dave and the kids putting together the Lego sets. Lots of little pieces... hours of fun tomorrow!

Two of the sets put together and two still in the boxes (already put together after this picture was taken). The book is really awesome. It came with a Lego Luke Skywalker and loads of awesome stuff to look at.

When we sang Happy Birthday to Mylo he had his mouth open like this the whole time... Not sure why... but whatever. Leah made the "cake" (brownies) and we enjoyed it with some ice cream.

We had a great day celebrating our Mylo. WE LOVE YOU LUCCI!!!

Things Pregnant People Should NOT hear or experience....

For one... DO NOT touch someone's belly like you are giving the baby a full body massage! Its awkward and very emotionally uncomfortable.

For two... Its so hard to hear of other pregnant people that are about to have their babies and loose them! A friend of mine that I have come to know over the last year at school was about to have her baby a week from tomorrow and she lost the baby on Friday. My heart hurts SO badly for her! I just don't know what to say or do... Of course this makes me think of my baby and my situation... PLEASE pray that all continues to go well... PLEASE!!!

CORRECTION: This post should say PLEASE pray for my friend... She's the one going through the difficult time. I feel bad that I was selfishly thinking of myself... she needs the prayers and blessings.... not me right now.

Baby Name...

When we found out we were going to have a boy (for ever ago) I thought for sure that we had already decided that we were going to name this baby Lucas and call him Luke. After further thought Dave was not loving that name anymore, since some jackass he knows was giving "Lucas" a bad name. So we started thinking of new names and although Lucas is a somewhat common name we did want something different and not so popular. I thought that we had finally come to the conclusion that Baby Boy's name would be Leif and I was LOVING it... NOW, here we go again. Dave is not totally convinced with that "hard F" at the end of the name. Seriously? "Hard F"? Whatever! Poor Baby Boy still has an undecided name and I want to know what it will be!!! I do think Dave enjoys the name game and the fact that its irritating me a bit too :) He's (Dave) a total tease!

For now... he is just Baby Boy. :]

Crazy Milli

Milli doesn't have very manageable hair. But she still manages to be super cute with this crazy "mop" on top of her head. I love those blue eyes... Not sure how this monkey is ours... but she IS!!!

"How are you feeling?"

Another unflattering picture.... FAT! But a funny one this time :D

I get this question a lot lately. I love that people ask and that they want to know. The above picture describes how I am feeling lately... fat! I love being pregnant, I have said that several times. This may or may not be the last time. This pregnancy has gone very quickly, until recently. It has seemed to really slow down. I feel fat. I feel like although I certainly look pregnant, I also look fat. And I am. I need to be honest with myself. But I think that the short answer for the "how are you feeling?" question is FAT.

Over all I really do feel really good. There are days that I feel like the baby is standing straight up and his feet are up to my neck or jammed in my lungs. I am still able to sleep fairly well and I move around just fine. I have had some shortness of breath and that is normal (according to my doctor).

Emotionally its been rough. The ups and downs are hard. The worry-wart in me is in full swing with the baby's well being. If I don't feel him move in an hour, I freak-out and I take it out on others (specifically my kids). My ever-growing-belly is getting difficult to cover. I often change my shirt 4+ times before I find something that will work for that day. That doesn't help the my emotional self. I seem to cry over things I would usually not care about... but I guess that comes with the territory.

I am getting anxious to see baby Leif and I wonder what he will look like. I have a hard time waiting for things but I have been trying to be patient with this baby and when it will come. I really don't want to be induced... I want him to come when he is ready. I just hope I can keep that attitude up.

But I really do feel pretty good. I am enjoying this as much as I can. If this is the last baby for us I want to love and embrace every second of this great opportunity and miracle. I know I will miss it in the future... but I have to be realistic.

Mother's Day

I hate posting unflattering pictures of myself... but it didn't get much better as the day went on :)

I was pleasantly woken up this morning by some of my very favorite people. Dave along with the three monkeys came in with a delicious breakfast and gifts. The breakfast consisted of waffles, a doughnut, granola, homemade fruit salad (strawberries, grapes, apples, bananas and mangos), milk and FRESH squeezed OJ. It was SO yummy. I never eat a breakfast this big, but after all the effort that was made I couldn't pass it up. It seemed to take for ever for me to finish breakfast but it was super yummy.

The kids brought me a newly updated picture of each of them to replace the over-a-year-old ones that are on the fire place right now. And a nice frame with Polaroid pictures from last year Sun Valley Trip and a spaghetti scooper (since we didn't have one :)).

I loved every minutes of this mother's day (except when one child was not cooperating and not being nice...)!

I love being a mother!

I also reflected on the things my mom has taught me and the many way she helps me and that amazing lady she is. She is the one that taught me about the gospel and service. She is a very big example to me and I love her. I also reflected on Dave's mom, Karen. She was an amazing woman as well and did me much good by teaching Dave the gospel and all the good he has. I love them both and I am not sure where and who I would be with out them.

I have also been thinking about all the amazing women in my life... there are so many! My sister, my sister-in-laws, my friends... Without all these women in my life, my life would be SO much harder. I love them all!!!

Big Girl Bed... and more

Monday, Abuela, Mylo, Milli and I took off to IKEA to get Milli's new bedroom stuff. It was, of course very fun. We got her a big girl bed, mattress, mattress pad, sheets, pillows, duvet and a very bright duvet cover and some wall decorations. That night we put it all together and moved her old bed (crib) to what will soon be "The Boys Room". (I still need to move her name down a bit... its too high where it is right now). She has done SOOO well in her big girl bed and she loves it. She loves the bed time routine and naps have still been wonderful. She just loves her bed... yay for us!

Wednesday, Maricela and I spent the better part of our day organizing ALL of the girl clothes we have in this house. We took EVERYTHING out of Milli's very crowded closet and re-organized EVERYTHING. There is no way I would have accomplished so much without her. The kids watched themselves and were pretty good. It feels so SO good to be this organized. I can't wait to finish the boys room now... next week :)

Dave and his "helper" putting the new bed together. Poor Mylo has a huuuuge mess in his room right now as things are slowly getting to were they should be. Monday, I also got a dresser for the boys that fits PERFECTLY in their closet. Pictures will soon follow once that is all done.

Leah was not left out of the adventure of this past crazy Monday. She wanted new bedding (not really new just a different one). I did get her new curtains that will match whatever is on her bed. I think that she took this picture since there is a bear out of place and I would have made sure everything was in its place before taking this picture :)

It feels REALLY nice to get organized and feel like this house is still ok for now...

Milli is TWO!!!

Milli turned two on May 1st. We had a little get together with family and although the weather was less than cooperative it was a very nice time. We kept it pretty low key. We had a little BBQ and a very tasty cake. (I usually make the cakes and go all out on decorations and things like that but I have no more creativity at this point... So I just fancied up a Costco cake with some cute little flowers made out of m&ms).

What's not to love about chocolate cake? Milli loved it! (I a week later I am having the last piece, tonight :))

She was very cute about opening her presents and said "thank you" very quietly :) She got lots of fun things and has had a great time with all of them. Leah and Mylo have also benefited from the new toys.

Although the weather was not great the kids still managed to play on the tramp and make friends with the other side of the family. Marcos cooked the burgers and hot dogs, THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I can't believe my baby is two! She is as sweet and happy as she looks but don't let her fool you... She has a nice "latino" sass about her and I love it! People always comment on how "she doesn't look at all like me", and "where did she come from?!?", but let me tell you... Milli DOES have more than the "latino" sass, she has some great latino moves, just like her mom... so she is mine! She loves to dance and she loves anything musical. She loves to tease Mylo aaaaallll day long!

We love our Mishushi!!!

FHE: Treats and Activities

Lets just face it... The best part of FHE is the activity or the treats. That's what keeps them on track and listening to the short lesson. FHE has really become one of our favorite time of the week. The kids love it and its a great opportunity to talk about gospel principles and strengthen our testimonies.

The other night we all went on a bike ride. It was no easy task for this over thirty weeks pregnant mom and I am sure it was a sight to see :) (that seat was waaaayyy to little for this not so little backside :) sorry no picture for thaht one). Dave pulled Milli and Mylo in our brand new trailer... can't wait to get more use out of it myself. Leah rode her bike like a champ and it was just a really enjoyable evening.

I really think its an inspired "program". We can become closer as a family and learn together!

updates....

I have several post to put on here....

I have been super busy moving rooms and closet stuff around.

The updates that will soon come...

Milli's b-day, Baby Update, Kids cuteness :), How I am feeling :), Room changes... and maybe more.

For now... I am doing good and although my feelings are still the same as the previous post, I am handling things better and I am trying to deal with the ups and downs that the hormones are bringing me. Today I am feeling up... I just hope it last past 3:30!

See ya!!!