I don't want to blink

I think I have an addiction - to sugar. I didn't really know there's actually such an addiction, but reading through some of its description, I think I'm a sugar junkie, or beginning to be. I'm honestly thinking constantly about sweets, and all the nice, tasty ways I can eat them during the day. I get cranky if I feel like eating cookies and don't have any around, and I have constant cravings for cake, frosting, whatever for my sweet, sweet tooth.

Every freaking recipe I see on Facebook tempts me to bake stuff that night, but so far I haven't given in with a cinnamon roll cake that Cheryl Burnette posted... I had to bake some biscuits the other night, though. I've also noticed the strawberry preserves' jar got eaten faster than the last one; and the last one even faster than the previous one. Yup, those are my first world problems.

No ando despeinda, sino que mis cabellos tienen libertad de expresión. 

Anyways... I just have to keep this under control, and the only thing for now that I am able to control is not to bake anything, so I won't. It's not like I'm gonna go to the extremes like I usually do, and not consume any sugar at all. I like my coffee in the morning to have sugar. I'm not super crazy about coffee so I just get one cup a day. That, and I also started running again, for life. I don't wanna end up being diabetic like both of my parents, or insulin resistant like my sister. I love to eat, love it. I need to find the magic number of calories...

Like Michael Phelps eats like 7,000 calories a day, and I don't think he is diabetic, right? Well, it's because his carbs, protein, etc., intake is in balance with his exercise. I want to do something like that. Of course, I'm not Michael Phelps, but still...

So the other day I was not sleeping in the middle of the night, and I thought, "I'm going to run a marathon".

Las Corooonaaaas de Los Principeeeeees

When Libby was born, it hurt so much that one of the very first things I said was something regarding a marathon. I can easily do it. I don't think it hurts as much as having a baby. Then I began thinking about the reasons I haven't been able to keep up with my running, walking, etc. I'm exhausted at the end of the day. But I've been noticing this last week, that I'm mentally exhausted, not physically. I've been running at nights, after the children go to bed - it's just been for the last week, but give me some credit. My mind fights me to leave the house, I don't want to go, but once I'm outside I never regret having gone for a run. I ran 4 miles the other day @ 11 min/mi. Not great, but good enough for me, for not having moved my butt lately and having two children... That's the same pace at which I was usually running before having babies. So I can do this. 

I thought during that night that I don't accomplish things that I do want to accomplish because I don't take the necessary steps in order to do it. If I wanted to run a marathon, I need to start increasing my mileage week after week after week, and stretch, and workout my core and my abs. And if I remember correctly, I need to be running anywhere from 20 to 40 miles a week for at last a year, if I even want to consider running a marathon injury-free. Patience, my love, patience... And I'm practicing patience. You'll see at the end of this post.

Gotcha!

Skyping with Nana

I forgot to post something about Father's Day...

We weren't really planning to do anything mainly because Emerson said he didn't care what day we celebrated it. I bought for him a nice coffee mug like the one Michael Scott has in The Office, but as usual, Emerson guessed his surprise. I just told him I had bought his gift online, and that he was really going to like if if he got the joke. That was all I said. Then he said, "Oh! Is it a coffee mug that says World's Best Dad?" 

I'm sorry. This is a friendly, not-cursing-all-the-time-blog. But what the hell? Really?

And so as soon as the mug got home I decided to go buy stuff to wrap it, and put some black teas inside. Why would  I keep it until Sunday if he already knew what was inside? It was a Thursday, and I took the children with me. We braved it in the shopping cart at Walmart, and Libby was mostly obedient. She did stand up, but I was always looking after her, so she didn't fall. And she really liked the ride. We came home and made a card for Daddy. I made a cake. When Emerson got home we had dinner, we gave him his presents, and ate delicious cake :)

I-don't-care-about-Father's-Day- Photos

Buying wrapping paper

Riding the cart

Working on the card

Sticking stickers

Enzo eating stars

"Nena, hold your borther, please"

"Come, Enzo, stay put"

"Suéltame"

Showing his card

Giving Daddy his mug

World's Best Dad

Enjoying the cake

Nena licking her fingers

Daddy's cake

"We love you, Daddy"

That was Thursday. Imagine my surprise when Daddy wakes up on Sunday and asks if we were going to do anything special for Father's Day. He wanted to go to a brunch downtown, but of course there were no reservations available anymore. So we decided to go to Pappacito's. You can never go wrong with Pappacito's. We all dressed up and took some nice pictures of the four of us on the way there.

Wait...-I-do-care-about-Father's-Day-Photos

Once we got to the restaurant, it was kind of difficult to eat in peace since I had to be feeding Enzo at the same time. I mean, he eats on his own, but I had to constantly watch he didn't drop the plate or stuff like that. Libby and Enzo got some balloons, green and red. It's been exactly a month and the balloons are still in the living room. Libby also got a flower from the balloon lady, but that one got destroyed after two weeks. It was a good Father's Day. Emerson was happy, we had a great time, and great food :) 

Happy Father's Day

In the last month or so Libby has been exploding with her speech. The girl whose Daddy was afraid  of her being mute can't remain silent for a second now. I honestly feel like my head is about to explode most of the time because she just repeats stuff over and over again. Sometimes I just smile, and laugh to myself because she talks non stop!! She talks more than I do...

Enzo is crawling. He is getting faster at it, and he's becoming more and more content. He is a very happy baby, but even more now that he can follow us to wherever we are in the apartment. He is trying to pull himself up, and just did it a couple of nights ago.

Enzo pulling himself up

He sleeps mostly from 8 pm-5 am. I'm trying to make him go until 6 am, so we'll start tonight probably. I remember that with Libby it took us just a couple of days, so I hope it's the same with him.

I have to say he is a very spoiled boy. I hold him most of the time, mainly because he cries if I don't. There are times during the day when he can play on his own with his sister, but he chooses to cry right before I start making dinner. The thirty minutes before Emerson gets home are the most difficult of my day because Enzo is crying all that time (since I can't hold him), and sometimes Libby is crying too, if she didn't have a good nap. But mostly the play together so well. I wonder why is it they like each other so much. I wonder how does a child's heart work, you know, how do they love people? Is it natural? Do you teach them to love? They like each other so much... Libby has never, ever been aggressive with him, or has ever tried to push him or hit him. We are very blessed with them. We do our part, too, but we do know God has blessed us so much. 

Cooking

Sweeping

Hanging out

Photo with Mommy

Daddy's love

Sleeping on Daddy's chest

We are also reading tons of book lately. I've never been too fond of reading to tell you the truth, but I enjoy reading to them. I don't really know if they like it, but Libby always listens, or grabs a book of her own, and Enzo is always around. Sometimes Libby just starts reading on her own, and makes inflections just like when I'm reading to them, so I guess it's working. 

Libby reading

I'm also trying to teach her to read. I don't think she gets it yet, though, how to put together the sounds. She knows all her letters and their sounds, so I'll just keep on teaching her a day at a time. I try to teach Enzo stuff too, but he's so busy putting everything in his mouth that he gets cranky when I try to take stuff away from him. But he listens, he always listens. I also printed for them a 2013 calendar in a piece of paper,  and for a month now we've been crossing the days that are passing by. Every day we write an X on the previous day and I teach them the days of the week that way. Hopefully it's a good approach, and if not, you know what? Who cares? I just want their mind to think... I've been trying to explain them also the concept of time. 

Libby is patient enough to sit still for a minute watching the timer go down from sixty to zero. I've been telling both of them that one minute has those sixty seconds they just waited. The alarm goes off, and she says, "Beep, beep, beep". Whenever we go to BK, or McDonald's or any place, I always set the timer and then I let her know how long she has until it's time to go home. Enzo is always on my lap whenever we go to the playground, so he is always happy :)  

Hanging out at Walmart

Loving Brother

Playing

On another note, Enzo fell from the bed. I think it was a Saturday, and Emerson was getting them ready to go to the pool. I usually sleep in the couch, because I don't feel comfortable on the bed, so when he was getting them ready I was still trying to push myself off the couch. That's when I saw Emerson leaving the room. I thought about Enzo, but did nothing. I wrongly assumed my husband had left him on the floor, since Enzo was moving fairly quickly now. Emerson came back and Enzo began crying. I got up because I could recognize Enzo crying in a different way, but when I asked Emerson he said nothing had happened. 

On the way to the pool I was carrying Enzo and noticed his nose was all red. I asked Emerson if Enzo had fallen from the bed, and finally he said he had, but he was too ashamed to let me know. Fortunately nothing happened, and it looked like he fell right on his face. He didn't cry, tough. I think he was more scared than anything else. The crying began when Emerson walked into the bedroom. After the pool, everybody was very tired and all of them took naps :)

Tired after swimming

Sleeping with Daddy

Eating a plastic chip

Red nose

I've also been taking them to the pool on my own, well, I just did it like three times. I bought Libby a floatie, but honestly I ended up being more tired than them every time we went. I just made them an oatmeal-banana-orange juice- smoothie that entertained their little stomacks from 8am until 10 am. We would come back home, take a bath to get rid of the sunscreen, have lunch, and then take a long, long nap. We had lots of fun.

This girl Darcy I met at BSF invited us over to her pool the other day, and I almost drowned my children, ha ha ha! Not really, but I was very scared. The pool was 5 ft deep, and I was sure I would be able to touch the ground. But I was holding Enzo in one arm, and Libby on my other arm. I touched the ground, but Libby was wearing her floatie and she made us float... so there goes Enzo under water with me, and then I just pushed myself up having them both above the water, while I was under... and then Darcy came in. So Emerson said it wasn't a good idea to go on my own to the pool anymore. I'm sad he said that because I feel he doesn't trust me, but besides that, something may happen to me, and I don't want to be the only one there with both of them.

Pool, water, pool party... FUN!

Enzo

Loading those  little tanks

Nenita playing with the water

Getting ready

Going home

Lunch after swimming

Libby at the pool

Enzo at the pool

We have been hanging out with Darcy lately. I mean, not a lot, but at least three or four times. We have gone to ChickFilA, the mall, McDonalds, mainly for the children to play in the playground. She organized a summer party the other day, and she invited other friends. We had a great time, specially Libby. She was literally the last one in getting out of the little pools. The water was very warm, but she liked it, probably because she had them all for herself when everybody was leaving. Enzo took a nap as soon as we got there, so it was nice that I didn't have to be holding him all the time. He woke up just on time for lunch, and then we spent probably half and hour more while everybody was getting their children ready to leave. We live 1.5 miles away from Darcy, and this time I didn't even change their swimming suits, just the diapers. That saved me time, and I could put everything together and organized in the car before coming home, so that I could also rest while they slept. 

Getting on

Playing with beach balls

Refilling water gun

Climbing 

Cheetos addict

A loner like Daddy

Getting to the top

Watermelon

Corndogs

Good morning!

Half pint

Nena on the water slide

Libby's new phrase a couple of weeks ago was "Hi, gays!". She hears me all the time saying guys to people in general. So one night we were putting her nights nights, and I asked her how she said Hi, guys. She said gays instead. We were laughing so hard she thought it was a joke, obviously, and she was saying it over and over. I wasn't going to tell her that was wrong, first of all because I'm not explaining to my daughter what gay is; and second of all, well, it might be the only time in her life she can get away with it being so funny. 

She is also saying tons of new phrases like:

• Hey, Mama/ Hi, Mama... We say it back and forth until one of us quits.
• Two hats... she figured that one on her own.
• I love you, he... Still doesn't click that Enzo is a he, she calls him he as his name. The same happens still with mine and yours.
• No, no, no, Daddy... She almost never says NO to us and when she does, she is really cute. I'm having a hard time letting her say No when I actually want her to say Yes, like when I want to read her a book. But I figure I need to teach her that I respect her opinion. If I'm asking her to do something she definitely has to do, like brushing her teeth, I tell her she doesn't have a choice. Then she goes and does it.

I'm probably forgetting some phrases but I'll try to remember later.

Well... for the 4th of July, we went to watch some fireworks to a place called Towne Lake. It rained so we almost didn't make it. It began pouring when we got there, and there were more people leaving the place than getting in. But first things first.

That morning we went to have breakfast at a place called tamales Balderas. They are nice, small tamales. We ordered a dozen, but there are so small, they didn't last ;)

Libby and Enzo liked them. It had been a while since we've been there.

Waiting for our order

El original Tamal de Puerco

Marometas con Papá

"Éntrale al tamal, Nena"

Nom, nom, nom

After having breakfast we had to go buy groceries, so I took advantage of the fact that Emerson was around. I really like going out with him to buy groceries, plus he is in charge of the groceries this month because he says I spend more than I should. We are still 12 days away from finishing the month, and we are already four dollars over the budget. That's great, actually, considering we have enough food, but I don't think he considers we need at least three more gallons of milk to finish the month, 2 yogurts, and at least one more trip to buy fruit and vegetables. We'll see...

So we went. Enzo and Libby love each other so much. I've noticed tough, that when she tries to hug him he doesn't really like it. He cries and cries. When she stops, he usually leans over her shoulder, but if she tries to hug him again, he starts yelling again. I don't know... it's like love has to be given to him on his own terms. I tell Libby to stop if he doesn't like it, but sometimes I let her hug him all she wants. She loves him! He has to get used to that hugging, at least for now.

Happy drivers

Kisses and hugs

Hugging Brother

After grocery shopping we came back home so that we could eat lunch and they would take a nap. When we left for the fire works it was about 6 pm, I guess. We had to stop at Walmart first because Libby didn't have diapers anymore. On our way to the celebration it was when it started raining. We had to let the children watch a movie in the car, and Libby ate some Cheetos, too. Finally after being in the car for at least thirty minutes we got down and we walked, and walked. 

Driving like my daddy

Happily waiting for the rain to stop

I don't know if it was the place or the people or what, I just didn't like it. Maybe it was the rain. There was only one food stand, maybe two. I guess I missed Ohio, and when we used to go to the fireworks with Michael and Mary, even if it was only that one time. I do miss Ohio, but I told Emerson this morning that even if we could move back, it wouldn't be the same because Ethan and Kate don't live

there anymore. The perfect Columbus as I recall it is not the same anymore. And it's not that Ethan and Kate drank alcohol... I would say the same if Rob and Cheryl, or Jeff or Trilva weren't there anymore. 

Pushing

Mini trailer

Feeding Enzo hamburger

Hot dog expert

Wtching the train closely

BUM?

Watching with Daddy

Enzo's first 4th of July

His girl :)

Two years

On Saturday, the 6th, we went to a barbecue and I made some rainbow cheesecake that Emerson had been wanting for a long time. I say it was a success, and it was really good.

After

Before

I mentioned earlier that we've visited tons of indoor playgrounds lately, mostly because it's so hot outside. I think I'll just post photos. Pretty much all we do is buy a coffee for me, and then Libby goes and play for at least an hour. I hold Enzo all the time and play with him. Sometimes we follow Libby, but mostly she plays on her own. She climbs, jumps, gets lost in the tunnels, and has so much fun. 

Enzo and Libby have such different personalities. Maybe it's because Enzo is still a baby, but he always wants to be held. Libby is so independent, she plays on her own so well. I do spend a lot of time with her, teaching her every day many things, but she really likes to be on her own, too. We'll see how Enzo changes in the next year or so. I think they are gonna have so much fun when he can walk. And I'll be going crazy :)

ChickFilA

Going up

Making friends

Silly Enzo

Found the exit

 

McDonald's

Ladybug

Arriba

Nena jumping

Guapo

Riding bunny

Broken lip after falling

Happy Mommy

Out after all the fun

Burger King

His first time inside

She knows her way already

Not very happy

Out after playing there

Enzo in the playground

Last Saturday we went for a walk in the morning, and then we went to the library while we were waiting for Daddy to come back from the brewery. Enzo had fun putting the puzzle pieces in his mouth. We checked out probably 15 books or so, we've gone almost through all of them. We just finished reading Let's get invisible from Goosebumps series, I liked it. I think she liked it, too. Or maybe it was just that she liked having my cell phone wile I read. I just erased like twenty photos that she took, mostly our feet!

Good puzzles

While I read

After the library and their nap, we went to Golden Corral because I was craving some chicken wings and thought it was gonna be a nice place, or good place to eat. I don't know, I'd never been there. Emerson said never again.  But we had fun at the chocolate fountain. The food looked very greasy, and it was funny to see that nobody cared about the salad bar. Daddy said the best was the cotton candy.  

I just remembered that she also says Goooo, gooooo, goooo when the green light changes. She also says Stop. It would be impossible to write everyting she is saying... I would love to, but I won't.

Elizabeth still reads her Bible the most out of her books. It's actually kinda of falling apart. She has been also helping Daddy make flour tortillas, and wiping her hands in the couch... I guess our daily lives, regular activities, normal things we do are pretty much the same day after day. I feel sometimes that I take pictures of everything, even poop. Oh, wait... I do take photos when I poop. Bathroom break, they will find you.

I just feel it's been the blink of an eye since I knew I was pregnant with Libby. I want to cherish every single moment of their lives, and this is one of the ways to do it. I don't know when I will have the time to read it all over again, but I'm sure I will. And hopefully they will get to read it, too. 

Favorite Book

Nice, Nena

And they make themselves at home.

Playground FAIL!

Every day fun

"I have to fit again"

Big girl

Helping Mommy vaccum

Now I'm happy

Now I'm not

Playing with a foamy block

Building a tower

Mr. Tantrums

Sweet eyes

More towers

"Here you go, Sister"

Learning to read

Kisses

Libby is using her imagination more and more, too. Just tonight we paid her money for kisses, and she gave us the money back because kisses are free. 

I don't know why but I've been thinking lately about death, not in my train, though. Just death. I talk regularly to them about Jesus and going to heaven, and all that. I just don't know how to tell them that our bodies are not forever, not these bodies. I've mentioned it, but I don't ever say I'm going to die. I don't want them to be afraid. I've been telling them lately that one day it's going to be time for me to meet Jesus face to face, and that they can also meet Him one day if they choose to. I tell them that I'm excited about it, but I just don't want that to happen just yet. I also said that everybody is going to see Jesus'face one day whether they go to heaven or not. 

This morning I said that I'm looking forward to my eyes not itching, and not having to worry about not sleeping enough, and my nose bothering me at night. It would be so nice to have a body that is perfect. I want them to see that I'm not scared to die. Because I won't die. Karla, their Mommy, will live forever. I told them tough, that they will stop seeing me for a little while, but only a little while. And it is a little while in perspective, if you consider the "foreverness" of eternity. But they are children. A little while may mean only one minute for them :(

I guess as they grow they will start asking all those questions... hard core questions that I'm not afraid to answer. I just want them to feel secure and confident of our love, but most importantly about God's love for them. 

God will help us with the wisdom we need for answering all those questions. 

Riding her "bike"

By the way, I think Libby asked WHY the other day... I asked if she really meant WHY, and she said yes. I gave her an explanation of what we were talking about. She hasn't asked WHY again. Hopefully she won't any time soon :)

Patience, my love, patience...