a dream come true

As many of you know, my sister and her family moved to Houston about a month ago. I was sittin' at home the other day thinking about how blessed I am. Megan and I have always been close, yes we fought, but I really can't think of a time where I didn't consider her my best friend.

When we were little girls we used to talk about what it would be like when we grew up and one of the things we talked about was living down the street from each other. She would have a pink house, and I would have a "booger green" house. (that was what we called the color of my parents house and I wanted to do everything just like them)

Fast forward 20 plus years and here we are. Ok, so we don't live exactly "down the street" from each other, and her house isn't pink and my certainly is not "booger green" but we aren't complaining.

It's been a fun month! Jorge and I are excited that our kids will grow up with their Aunt and Uncle around the corner. We look forward to raising our kids together. It truly is a dream come true.

P.S: Happy Birthday Megan!!

Up to NO good!

Here's a little update of Lori and her mischief! If you are "a regular" to our blog you know that there is something we do that I like to call "Up to NO good!" cause frankly, that's what she is... up to NO good! She's SO cute, I know that, but spend one day with her and you'll agree with me, she's a menace! It does make for some pretty cute pictures though!!


Here are some shots of Lori "helping" Uncle Ryan unpack one of his boxes... I don't think anyone asked her for her help, nor do I think they will again for a while.

I made the mistake of leaving my purse/diaper bag in the hallway... Lori LOVES bags! Well, she loves to TAKE APART bags, and wallets and pretty much anything. So as I was resting on the couch, trying not to be sick, Lori decided to take apart the diaper bag and my gift card holder... she made a HUGE mess!!!

CAUGHT RED HANDED!!!

more belly

Here are a few more belly pictures...




16 weeks

I can't believe it's been 4 months already!
Kinda crazy!

17 weeks

I'd say that I am SLOWLY starting to move out of the "she let herself go" stage and in to the "I think she might be pregnant" stage. I THINK I'm looking forward to the "when are you due" stage, but that's easy to say now... when I'm there it could be an entirely different story.

This one KINDA creeps me out only because Lori is sitting on and squishing her future sibling, making my belly look kinda freaky in my opinion. It's still cute though... cause Lori looks SUPER excited!

The Belly Shots...

When I was pregnant with I took a "Belly Shot" every week, wearing the same thing (more or less) and in the same spot, starting at 12 weeks. So naturally, I wanted to to the same thing with "Numero Dos". I know everyone says that you get a lot bigger a lot faster the second time around, and I am hoping that "Numero Dos" is bigger than Lori was, (who was only 4lbs 14 oz) but really, I don't know if I'm ready for it... oh well, too late now!!





Here's my 12 week picture from when I was pregnant with Lori... I remember thinking that I was TOTALLY showing. How silly of me. :)





















12.5 weeks

and here's 12 weeks (more like 12.5 actually) with "Numero Dos" Lookin' bigger than last time for sure!

















14 weeks

We missed 13 weeks cause I was at my parents house, so this is 14 weeks. The shirt is a little bigger than the last one, so it looks a little different, and my hair has seen better days but you get the point.
















15 weeks

Not much of a difference between 14-15 weeks, (especially with the hair) but I figured I'd post it anyway. The shirt is the same as in the first picture since I couldn't find the maternity version of this shirt, so it's a little bit tighter.










So there you go, let me know if you'd like to see more or less of these. But be honest!!
I don't want to bore you more than I probably already do.

a Summer of firsts!

This summer has been a year of firsts for Lori, which is to be expected in a child her age, but nevertheless, it seems like a good time to share them with all of you. You've seen her first trip to Austin, so here are a few others...

First pigtails!

Her hair is getting longer and longer and one day I thought it might just be long enough for pigtails, and I was RIGHT! She looked so cute with those pigtails that you'll most likely see her with them on most days... especially in this HOT weather!!


First chocolate cookie!

She was being a good girl so I gave her a cookie, a store brand "fudge Stripes" cookie to be exact. As you can see, she loved it!


First trip to the pool!

After a whole week of triple digits, we had to go to the neighborhood pool. Lori enjoyed herself, and much to my dismay has NO fear of the water, not even a healthy one. She'll walk around in the kiddie pool, and if she falls under she doesn't even cry when I pull her up. Lori also LOVES the big pool! (again, I find this very disconcerting.)


First car trip facing forward!

She now BARELY meets the height and weight requirements for a forward facing car seat. We're getting ready for the big road trip from CA to TX in a week (post coming soon) I'm hoping that facing forward will make the trip a little more enjoyable for her, but I'm sure that is just wishful thinking.


First toothbrush!

The dentist told me to start brushing her teeth. (all 7 of them) I'm not nearly as good about it as I should be, but she LOVES to hold and chew on her toothbrush, both ends of it acutally. I don't give her any toothpaste when I give it to her, but I do use baby toothpaste everyone once in a while.


First potty chair!

I know, I know! She's only 14 months old, am I crazy? Well, yes, I probably am crazy, but that's besides the point. On several occasions Lori has said "poo poo" and THEN gone in her diaper, so I consulted with my mom, and she told me to get her a little potty chair. It's been quasi successful. She's gone in the potty a good handful of times, but don't worry, I won't post those, pictures, although they are pretty funny. Lori is VERY proud of herself when she does go, as are Jorge and I. So it looks like AFTER the big road trip we'll start the ACTUAL potty training.


First taste of Pink Lemonade!

Lori was looking at my glass of pink lemonade the other day and kept saying "MAH?" (meaning more) I thought it would be funny to give her a taste. Cruel as it may sound, I thought she's wrinkle up her nose and make a funny face, no harm there. That was not the case! She wanted "MAH?". I ended up drinking the rest of the glass.


First time being a BIG SISTER!!!

That's right, your heard me! Lori will be a big sister in January. (January 21st is the actual due date.) I had to make her this shirt since I couldn't find one small enough. As you can see from this picture, she's pretty happy about it. Although she does lift up my shirt when I ask her, "where's the baby" and give the baby "kisses", I am thoroughly convinced that she hasn't a clue what's going on. And probably won't for a long while. But that's ok.

Austin... not SO weird.

Over Memorial Day weekend Jorge and I (and Lori) were able to get to take a trip up to Austin TX, with our good friends Trey and Mandy Barrow. They both went to UT (University of Texas) so we were able to get a tour of the whole city. It was really fun. We started off with a visit to the state capital. Not only is it the tallest building in Austin (it's actually against the law to build anything taller the capital.) but it's also taller than the Nation's Capital, if you include the basement, which of course, Texans do!

It's virtually impossible to get the whole thing in to a picture. Trey and I both tried. This was the best we could get.
















Lori enjoyed walking around the grounds and exploring in her squeaky shoes!



We went in to the Capital building just to look around

Here's a shot of the underside of the capital dome.
I thought the details were amazing.

The floor underneath the dome,
I like that it says "Republic of Texas"













and no Texas State building would be complete without this gem! TAA DAA!












We toured the University of Texas campus. I was really excited to see Bevo, the UT mascot. I was able to get pretty close, I'm pretty sure he looked at me!! This is Bevo XIV, so it is by no means the original, but I was still really happy to see him.

Can you see him??

Who does this statue look like?



Here's a cute one of Lori and her Aunt Mandy!

Our very good looking tour guides. They were both in the UT marking band.
Here they are with the marching band statue.

We walked ALL around campus and found a 7-ELEVEN!!!! We used to live within walking distance of two 7-elevens and since moving to Houston we've been very, very deprived!




There was an artsy fartsy art piece on the campus of thick rubber tubes. We let Lori walk through them, and I think she liked it, but her taste in art might be a little more less "abstract".


I was able to get this pretty "artsy" picture of her, which ended up being my favorite picture of the weekend!


Last shot of the UT campus I got was of the infamous UT Tower. The site of the 1966 shooting by Charles Whitman.

She was a little tuckered out after our day in Austin! She took a little cat nap in the car on our way to get some drinks and see a view of Lake Travis.









We technically stole this picture. They were charging 15 bucks to get your picture taken ON the back of the Longhorn, so we waited until the guy was distracted and snapped the shot. We had to move quickly, AND cautiously cause I did NOT want to startle that beast in ANY way! His horns were freaky large!!

Happy to not be walking! We did LOTS of walking!


Checkin' out the view!

Some of Lake Travis. It had just started raining, so the pictures aren't THAT great, but you get the idea!

The next place we went was called the Hula Hut. The Hula Hut is a very yummy mexican restaurant with some hawaian undertones. We arrived there at 5:45 but because it was a Saturday night, we didn't actually get seated until close to 7:30 and didn't get our food until around 8:00! Despite the LONG day and all the rain, Lori was still her happy, happy self!

Where's Lori?


THERE SHE IS!

The last stop on our Austin tour was The Saltlick. And OH MY GOSH, if you are ever in Austin, this is a must!! Jorge and I had seen an episode of Man vs. Food where the host goes to Austin and eats at The Saltlick, and just watching it made our mouths water. We were telling Trey and Mandy about it and they said that they used to go there all the time! So we put it on the list! It lived up to the hype FOR SURE! We plan to go back someday!



Our last picture is kinda blury but we had to post it!

*note Lori's new shirt... she looks cute in UT orange!

Father's Day...

So this is slightly late BUT really, is it ever too late to say how much you love the Dads in your life? I don't think so.

First of all, My dad, David Barnes. The dad of two girls, he really took interest in things that my sister and I liked and that couldn't have been easy. He always made me feel special and important. When I was 8 or so I started to take interest in things that he liked, tools and music to be specific. He taught me everything I know about tools, he taught me how to identify each of the Beatles by there voices and WHY they sounded the way they did. (Something that I'm sure will come in handy some day.) He introduced me to Archie and the Fantastic Four, two of the best comics of all time. Now he's a grandfather or "Papa" as Lori calls him. And he is the only other person, beside Jorge and I, who's name she says. He walks up and she says "Papa". He's obviously still very special to us.

We love you Dad! Thanks for everything!






The next of course is Jorge. Everyday he impresses me more and more. He has taken to being a dad more than I could even have imagined. I am blessed to have them both. When she hears the garage door open she gets so excited and starts saying "Dada! Dada!" If she's playing in the living room and she hears the "click" of the key in the front door she stops what she's doing and runs to the hallway (sometimes falling over in the process, which is pretty funny) saying "Dada. Dada."

He is her hero! And she is his pride and "Joy"

This is my new favorite picture, taken by a friend at a church event. It's Jorge and Lori with our friend Ben and his son Ryan. To me it captures pure joy between everyone in the picture. Fathers and their kids, a relationship that is probably one of the most important ever, one that is SO important to me because of who my father was and is and who my husband is to our daughter.