Thankful for cooler weather

So, I suppose Dallas fall weather is officially here. The temperature on average is a high of 90 and lows in the 60s. Every once in a while it sneaks back up in the 100s, but the next day will be a pleasant 85. It's crazy that I catch myself thinking that 90 degrees is cool. I see the weather report and if the high is lower than 94, I am excited and think, Hey! I can wear jeans today without dying!

Back in August in the 105+ weather, I struggled a bit. I remember going to the grocery store with Luke. Although the trip was hot, this wasn't the hard part. The hard part was bringing the groceries into the apartment. We live on the second floor, so while it could be worse, this ends up being a lot of stairs to climb for a pregnant woman. First I have to carry Luke up. I leave the front door cracked open and head down for the 1st batch of groceries. I grab them and as I head up, I see Luke making a quick get-a-way to the third floor! So, I race upstairs, put my load down in the kitchen and go get Luke who is all the way up the 2nd stair well by now. I drop him off in the house (shut the door completely this time) and make 2 more trips for the groceries. (I think I had 3 or 4 gallons of milk, which made an extra trip) If you've stayed caught up, that is a grand total of 5 trips up and down the staircase.

Let me remind you that it is 105 degrees outside and I am 6 or 7 months pregnant. All I could do was strip down to my underwear (literally) and eat a banana Popsicle. Oi. I'm glad those days are over. (and I'll spare you the picture ;))

I also laughed today when we went to the distribution center and a girl was buying thermal underwear because she was going camping and "it's probably going to get down in the 40s". Really?!

Thought provoking blog posts.

Okay, so I've been reading some of those funny thought-provoking blogs that share their opinions and make you laugh and cry and you can relate so well it every post.... Have you ever read any of those type of blogs? One I really enjoy is called "Pear Shaped Thoughts" cuz it's a bunch of young mormon girls writing about Mormon mom/women type stuff that I can usually really relate to.

Link to check it out:

http://www.pearshapedthoughts.com/

Anyway, every time I read this blog or a few others, I just think to myself, why can't I be creative in my blog posts? I can never think of anything "blog worthy" to write about and then end up just posting pictures of my pregnant belly and my cute son. (Not that there's anything really wrong with those posts, I just wish I could write more opinions and stories.) I want to have a blog that not only tells the story of our family, but also shows more of my personality and the dynamics of our family.

So I am going to try it out. Don't worry, Ma-- I will still post plenty of pictures for you as well. :)

Life in Dallas, TX

Emily 33 weeks.

Life is good here in Texas. This is my family, I can't believe how fast our little family has grown! 

This picture was taken at White Rock Lake, which is like 10 min away from our house and it has huge lake. The weather is cooling down and it does feel nice. 

Emily great $5 deal!!!

I have to say that Emily has been such a great shopper. She got us a really good deal with the toddler bed and these shoes!

Dental school is going great! Is tough and there is a lot of studying but I know it will be worth it. So far I have waxed 10 teeth or so and I'm getting pretty good at. My days are usually pretty long (16 hours of studying, class, dissecting, etc). I get to wear scrubs every day, it almost makes me feel that I'm going to be Dr. in the near future, but as right now they are just pajamas.  

Emily Prego 31 Weeks

New Bed and Running Free

Luke has decided to potty train himself. We really have done very little besides helping him when he needs it. About a week ago, we took off his diaper to see what he would do and just let him roam free for a little while. He started whining and complaining that he needed to go peepee and wanted us to put his diaper back on him. He was begging and trying to put it on himself. When we refused and told him he was a big boy and he could go in his potty, he finally went in the potty. We cheered and hugged him and kissed him. He was so excited and was like, wow, that wasn't hard. I can do that! and ever since then, he will go potty and caca in the "bassenia" when he is naked.

HOWEVER, if we try to put underwear on him or put him in a diaper/pullup, he reverts back to his old ways and will pee in his pants. Any advice on how to get him to at least wear underwear around the house?I am a little tired of having his little bum and peepee hanging out for him to play with.

This is the explanation as to why he has no pants on in the photos below. We tried our best to hide his privates from public eye.

This is Luke's new toddler bed! We found it on craigslist and bought it for $15!!! Heck yes! It had a little bit of white paint on it but I was able to remove it with just a little scrubbing. The girl was also selling some of her son's shoes-- she works at a department store and bought him WAY too many to even wear. So I had fun picking out cute preppy, almost new shoes for Luke. We got 3 pairs (all different sizes) for $5. Sweet. We need to find a new mattress for the crib now too, but there are always some available on craigslist.

Luke picked out (sort of) his new comforter from Ikea. It is a white twin size comforter with a duvet cover, so if and when he gets his own room, we can re-decorate and change the duvet for pretty cheap! (most were $15-30) His was $20. If you cannot tell, it has animals on it including elephants, snakes, monkeys, giraffes, birds, and fish. I liked it because it matched his curtain and the crib set and I really think TV cartoon characters like Dora or Thomas are just so ugly (that's what most kid comforters are these days). I refused to let him decorate his room with those characters. and Luke really likes it too! He knows all the animal noises.

So, I have visions for a super cute nursery, but I am not sure how to execute this project. I HAVE to get something on those walls to make them more interesting, but I don't think I am allowed to paint them. I also plan to paint the toy chest (the last renters left it here). I am thinking a fun spring green? What do you think?

Luke is adjusting to his bed pretty well. He slept in it all night last night with really no fuss. He was so excited to pretend to go "night night" and would pull up the covers and grin and say "night night". He was excited to get through his books and bed time routine, but when we left him alone, he immediately got scared and started to cry at the door. Francisco went in almost immediately and laid on the floor next to his bed. Luke wasn't settling down; just climbing in and out of his bed and wanting to cuddle with Papi, but not crying. I finally went in because I thought they had both fallen asleep and I knew Francisco had studying to do. I realized Luke was still up and though oh great. Now we have to start this all over again! I left, hoping Luke wouldn't freak out. Francisco got frustrated and just left the room and shut the door behind him. So, Luke sort of whimpered and got out of bed and tried to come out as well. He worked at the door knob for a couple minutes and finally gave in. He went to bed and slept all night long. Hooray!

His nap today is going okay, I think. We did everything the same as a normal nap but when I left he screamed and yelled at the door trying to get out for probably 15-20 minutes. When he stopped, I thought he was just planning his escape or something, but now his room is quiet! Hopefully he did go to sleep!

Meet Mr. Oso

You are about to meet Mr. Oso. Mr Oso has become Luke's best friend, especially when it comes to bed time. They like to snuggle together and read the SAME books over and over again. Emily reads the same 10 books every time Luke takes a nap or goes to bed, which is twice a day. 

In all his books Luke can point to lots of objects and say the sounds of different animals, he even knows what the insects say! : )  

He knows the sounds for cow, cat, dog, pig, monkey, lion, owl, bunny, elephant, train, rat, bird, snake, tiger, duck and baby chick. So next time you see him, test him; but of course it has to be in Spanish if you don't want to get a blank stare. 

I just love his little PIECITOS! 

My love Emily took this pic before heading off to church today

Children's Aquarium !!!

So we did get to go to the aquarium yesterday! It was pretty neat and Luke loved it! 

On our way there, the GPS took us on some super sketchy streets and down some scary back-roads; we were quite nervous about where this "aquarium" was located. It turned out that the aquarium was inside the state fair-grounds along with various other attractions and was not scary at all. Outside the fairgrounds, however, was a different story. Glad we found it!

The aquarium was small, but it was the perfect size for a toddler to get through it all with no fits or tantrums. My favorite attractions were the sea turtle and the petting string-rays. Luke actually got his hand in the water and was lucky enough to touch a stringray! The slimey texture startled him and he jerked his hand out of the water splashing it all over his face. He also touched a few different crabs as well. I think Luke's favorites were the sharks and string-rays.

This was Luke's ace after touching a string-ray! Yuck!

I love that these string-rays look like they are smiling! :)

Here is Luke's "pose" again. He has to tilt that head!

Life Lately

Well, Luke and I have been plugging along as Francisco studies about 15 hours a day. Maybe we will get to do something fun this weekend because Francisco gets a 4 day weekend! (Of course he still has a TON to study, but at least no classes :) I think we might go to the aquarium tomorrow. 

The weather is finally starting to cool down; and by cool down, I mean today the high is only 99! woohoo double digits! haha but this weekend some of the highs are like 93 (hopefully). I am so excited for fall. I wonder what fall is like in Dallas... Do the trees turn color? Does it ever cool down enough to have the crisp fall air? Does it ever smell like rotting leaves? I got out my autumn wreath but it seems weird to put it up when the temperatures are in the 100s. I am excited to celebrate Halloween with Luke-- he is going to be a lion (he got the costume from his Abuelita Ines last year) Hopefully he likes wearing it! I really want baby Sam to be born before Halloween. Gramma K will be here on the 29th, I think? So, I'm thinkin I'll have the baby that day so that Luke will have someone to be with and I will be home from the hospital before Halloween. and I want Sam to wear a lamb costume. Then we would take pictures of the boys together and the lion and the lamb would lie down together in peace. Wouldn't that be so cute?! Or Sam could be some other African animal and they would just be safari pals in the  pictures. I'm getting carried away because in reality, I can't afford to buy a costume for a newborn... It's like $30 and he might not even come till after Halloween!

Here are some pictures of Luke from this morning!

Luke is quite creative. He pulled out the DVD cases from a box in the process of being unpacked and started building. (The DVDs are all in a CD case for easy assess for us, but not for Luke) He would make little towers and then...

Knock them over! He was pretty proud of himself. 

Luke is also getting better at brushing his teeth. 

He was posing for these pictures with his toothbrush. He poses by tilting his head and bringing his arms up. Is that something that all children do? I wonder where he learned it.

I have a story about Luke that I want to remember:

The other morning Francisco brought him into our room to cuddle with me because I was still in bed. Francisco was up studying. So he came and laid down next to me. I turned toward him and smiled and tried to rest/go back to sleep. So Luke brought his face right up close to mine, maybe an inch away, tilted his sweet little head and grinned at me. I could feel him in my face so I opened my eyes to see his big brown eyes and huge smile beaming at me. I smiled, but closed my eyes again, cuz I really just wanted us both to go back to sleep! Then he reached his little hand to my head and very gently brushed the hair from my face and gave my a big kiss on the lips! I couldn't help but smile; it was so sweet. He kept doing this over and over until I woke up completely. Luke is such a sweet baby and I hope that he loves his brother as much as he loves us. 

Another thing I want to remember about Luke at this age:

Luke calls Francisco "Mami" (or Mommy). He constantly points to pictures and says "Mami?" and I constantly answer either "no, es Papi" or "Si, Y Papi!" ("Yes and Papi!" because it is a picture with both of us) He calls me Mami also, but it's just kinda silly to hear him saying Mami all the time when he really means Papi. For example, yesterday we went to Walmart. Francisco went off to get some notecards and Luke and I went to the grocery section. The WHOLE time Luke was whining saying, "Mami, Mami..." and looking around for Papi or pointing to the direction that Papi went. and the whole time I'm thinking, Great. Someone is going to think that I stole this kid and that he's crying for his mom... Thankfully, no cops arrested me. ;)

Update of our lives in the big state of Texas!

We are in Dallas and we have been staying quite busy. I thought I would be feeling bored and isolated being in a new city, a new apartment, new everything, but we are actually adjusting quite easily and I think I am going to really love Texas.

Here is a picture from today of Luke! He is such a good little boy eating his snack!

I am actually not really sure where to start! There is so much that I could update you on.

First off, I finished my internship! I will officially graduate next Tuesday and I plan to take the RD exam at the end of September. The internship was really demanding and hard, but overall, I really enjoyed it. I am so glad that I finished and that I had this opportunity to go to school. It was been so rewarding and I feel very accomplished. I am proud of myself. Now I just have to pass that test!!!

Second, Francisco started dental school. Wow, it is also very demanding. He hasn't even started all of his classes yet (he gets out early almost every day) but it seems like he is always gone or needing to study! This is going to be very hard. I really hope that I can give him all the support that he needs!

Third, our move: It's been a pretty smooth transition. I am really thankful to have had Ines and Melissa stay with us during this move-- it would have been crazy without them! Our apartment is beautiful and Francisco did an excellent job in picking out furniture. We have already started decorating and  it looks great! The location of our apartment is prime, even within the complex! The dumpsters are right down the stairs, the pool and weight room are behind us and the front office is just a short walk away. Everything else that we could possibly need is  less than 10 minutes away it seems! Super Walmart, Target, the malls, Kroger, the temple, the church, post office, library, EVERYTHING. We are right next to all the major freeways, but it really doesn't feel that way-- I feel like we are in a very suburban area. I know we will also eventually really enjoy the park that surrounds our apartment complex as well, but right now it is too hot to even go outside.

 Here is a picture tour of our new place!

 The balcony. It wraps around the living room and we have 4 floor to ceiling windows that see out to it. We haven't spent much time out there. It's too hot.

 Walking into from our front door, this is what you see. To the very left is the laundry. To the right is the kitchen.

 Here is the itty-bitty kitchen! It's pocket-sized, but it will do for now. Note the dish-washer! Hooray!

 Walking past the dining to the right is our living room! Francisco picked out both the dining table and the couches before I even got to Dallas. He did a great job! See the big windows?

 View from our bedroom door.

 The fire place. Still haven't decorated this much...

 Our bedroom. It looks the same as our last bedroom pretty much...

Luke's bathroom. Melissa proudly decorated it. She just loved this monkey theme and wanted it so bad, so I gave in let her take over. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Luke is taking a nap so I don't have a picture of his room. and it's not quite finished. We are still looking for a toddler bed for him...

Next up: The pregnancy. So the little one seems to be doing good. He is kicking like crazy and keeping me pretty uncomfortable.  I'm slow moving, but I get along alright.

Congrats if you made it through this whole post! I know it was a long one...