Go Texan Day!

Today was Go Texan Day. What is Go Texan Day you ask? Well, it's a day that is set aside for all Houstonians to wear their "Texas garb". That's it. According to Wikipedia it was first thought of in 1938 but wasn't put in to practice until the 1950's. Every year since 1954 Go Texan Day has been the traditional way they kick off the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. It seems to be a real big deal out here... I saw a guy driving his car in a cowboy hat, two kids at target wearing "western gear" (including purple cowboy boots - awesome!) AND a group of people in a flat bed trailer being pulled around our neighborhood, similar to a hayride, but with out the hay... or the horses... or the farm... or any particular purpose what so ever. Only in Texas I suppose.

Since my kids are Houstonians born and raised, I figured we'd follow suit. Jorge says that he can't ever dress up like a cowboy cause he always ends up looking like a migrant worker... sadly, he's kinda right. But I don't think that's the case with the kids though... at least not yet.

Davey in his overalls, and his bandanna cloth diaper (not pictured :) )

and Lori in my cowboy boots.

"GO TEXAN" DAY!!

in the home stretch

So I'm actually almost done. I've made it to 38 weeks (or 39 depending on which due date you look at) At this point, regardless of due date, "Numero Dos" could come any day. I've never been this pregnant before and so from here on out, it's all new! Which is exciting and frustrating all at the same time.







38 weeks
(is it just me or does my belly look SMALLER than last week?)











As anxious as I am to have this baby out and meet him face to face, (not to mention NOT have him painfully wedged under my ribs anymore...) I actually have been taking the advice EVERYONE has been giving me, and enjoying my last few days being just Lori's mommy. She is amazing. (I know, I know, I'm bragging again, but hey, it's my blog and I'll brag if I want to! ;) ) Lori has become particularly snuggly these last few days, which could be in relation to her slight fever today but I like to think that she just KNOWS that things are going to be different soon. She's just my sweet baby girl who is beyond precious and I love her very much. It actually makes me sad, that things are going to change in a matter of days or weeks.

I've been enjoying watching Lori's free and joyful spirit as she wanders around the house cooking up some sort of trouble. In this case, it' not so much trouble as it is just plain silliness.

wearing Jorge's socks...


Bag lady, eat your heart out.

Every outfit needs a good pair of shoes.


For some reason in this picture I think she looks like my sister a little bit when she was little...


Our silly little girl who makes me smile every day! What a blessing she is!

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.

"Yay! It's Summer!! Lets break stuff!"

So today started out like any other day, we go up, showered, Jorge went to work and I got Lori her breakfast and turned on Good Morning America. But then, at 8:30 there was a VERY strong knock on the door, fallowed shortly by the door bell ringing. That made me nervous so I peeked out the window and saw the Constable. Then I was even MORE nervous! I opened the door and he asked me if I had seen my car window. I said no and then we walked outside and that's when I saw this...



and then this...


My first thought was, "Crap, they stole our pack 'n play!!" But no, they didn't steal ANYTHING! Then I thought, maybe it was my "W04" sticker (no jokes please) but I live in Texas, and he's not president anymore, so I ruled that out too. After mentioning that to the Constable, he told me that every year after school gets out for the summer, kids go around and cause destruction just for the "fun" of it. Gah! Well their fun, just cost us 240 bucks!!


Have a good summer kids... geez!

24 horas con Pop

Jorge's dad was coming to Houston for what we thought was a short visit. Little did be know that because of some crazy weather it was going to be even shorter! He was supposed to get here at 11:00 on Saturday morning and leave at 5:30 on Sunday night, but since there was that severe weather, his plane didn't land until 5:00. This made his trip only 24 and a half hours (to be exact).
When they finally got to the house we all went out to dinner, Mexican food, and then came straight home so Lori could go to bed. I worked on some craft stuff, while Jorge and his Dad, Jorge Sr. talked about tools and other things that they wanted to fix around the house.

One question we get a lot is "Jorge, does your dad speak English?" The answer is yes, "Pop", as we call him, DOES speak English, and fairly well. BUT Spanish comes much more naturally so when he talks to Jorge he speaks mainly Spanish.
Which brings up another FAQ. "Jorge, do you speak Spanish?" The answer to that question is also yes, although Jorge would tell you he isn't fluent, that's just him being modest. He understands is PERFECTLY and can speak it very well... when the situation presents itself. (like visits or conversations with Pop)

After church the next day Jorge and Pop went out tool shopping while Lori napped. After that we went to lunch, Mexican food again. (it was at this time that I realized that in all the time that we've gotten together with pop, either in California, Chicago or here in Houston, I have ONLY eaten Mexican food with him... and no, if a Mexican eats pizza that does not make it Mexican food, I checked) After lunch we went shopping (!) for stuff for Lori. We got some awesome things from Babies 'R' Us including a sippy cup with a straw (since Pop knew Lori likes drinking from a straw) and some shoes and flip flops and some super cute clothes that I got to pick out!! I enjoyed it!!



Then it was time for another nap (for Lori, not us) but before that she got to show Pop one of her new outfits, and how she can almost walk now!

Then when Lori got up from her nap we all got in the car and drove Pop to the airport and said good-bye. But not before Pop said a little "oracion" that's Spanish for prayer, which he said in Spanish of course. It was very special moment and a great way to end the visit.

Bluebonnets - this is going to be a long post

If you are ever driving through Texas in the springtime, you will see the highways littered with parents taking pictures of their children in the amazing fields of bluebonnets that grow all over this state. The origin of this tradition of taking pictures of our kids in our state flower is unknown but from what I gathered from a quick Google search, it dates back to the 60's when first lady Lady Bird Johnson persuaded the Texas State government to seed bluebonnet and other wild flowers along the state highways and elsewhere around the state.
I was so excited to get to take Lori this year! We took advantage of Jorge having Good Friday off and made the "40 minute" trip up to Brenham, TX to take pictures of Lori. We got lost (and almost ran out of gas) on the way, which is somewhat hard to do considering that its RIGHT off the Highway... but we got there eventually, and it was worth it. (That is why I said "40 minute" trip... ours turned in to 90 minutes...)



We found a BEAUTIFUL field of bluebonnets and pulled over to join the other parents and families taking pictures. I'd guess there were close to 40 other families there, and you're about to see why... oh and I should mention that Bluebonnets smell as good as they look!

When Lori stands up on her own Jorge and I clap and cheer for her with much enthusiasm, in hopes of motivating her to walk sooner. So far it's only caused Lori to clap her own hands as a way of asking us to clap for her whenever she does anything... no matter how small... it's kinda cute.

Here she is encouraging us to clap for her...

















This one is one of my favorites... so pensive. (and no, it's NOT illegal to pick the bluebonnets... so she's ok.)


More clapping... and a good view of the field.

These are two of my favorites...

Our BEAUTIFUL, HAPPY girl!

Monogrammed bloomers, another Texas must!

After Jorge took some photos of Lori and me, I took some of them. My two FAVORITE people in the world!! They turned out great, if I do say so myself.







Jorge is so good with Lori, she just ADORES him too! Looking at these next few pictures makes me feel blessed!!















This one reminds me of Max from the book "Where the Wild Things Are"












But take a look at how much they look a like in
the next few pictures... it's amazing.

More standing and clapping...

and a family picture!

Thank you and congratulations for making it to the end of this post... dragging all of these pictures to where I wanted them took WAY too long, so I hope it was worth it! Thanks for reading!!