11 months

Can hardly believe it. Eleven months old today. I've been saying he doesn't look old enough to almost be a year but then this past week he just changed. His face is fuller, his bones feel bigger. He just feels more "substantial" I guess. We are over the moon with him. We really couldn't ask for a better addition to the family. I am so thankful Angel and I tried again. That we didn't let fear determine our fate and we trusted that something as beautiful as Santiago was right around the corner. He was, waiting for us to take a leap of faith and allow him to come. And he is definately here. 

Check it out...

Seriously cute. 

Three parallel world. 

Chilling in the pool. Or, as Ignacio says, "Chillaxing"! 

Just love these three goofs. Handsome kids will make for handsome men. 

Strolling through the neighborhood on a Sunday night. $6 pizzas at our favorite restaurant cut our walk short but that was A-Okay with me! No cooking!

Emilio's pride after making his bed. 

The boys playing soccer and Santi doing his orangutan crawl to keep up. We love this park. We call it the nature park. It's where we took our family pictures when I was pregnant. 

He's really into taking this in and out. More like "into taking things out"! 

Commit

Sometimes the oldest gets lost in the shuffle. They are independent, not as dependent and get asked to do more stuff than anyone else. "Take your brother to the bathroom." "Get the baby." "I know they aren't your toys but pick them up."  My little Ignacio. Sometimes being the oldest makes people forget you are still young. I commit to doing a better job. I commit to making the baby wait. I commit to really listening and trying to say yes more than no. I commit. Because, your first baby is always your baby, even when there are other babies around.  

Slow

Slow down. It's moving too fast. What about the 0 to 3 onesies? What about the first smile? What about the warm curl of you on my chest? What about swaddler diapers and worrying about your first cold? Slow down. Take it all in. Close your eyes and remember that you remembered. Remember you were there.  Remember thinking that you wanted to remember. Remember taking deep breaths and inhaling all the goodness. The smiles and the sighs. It's around the corner. The writing is on the wall. There are no detours and no way to avoid the route. So we enjoy the ride. Take it all in. Remember to remember. Worry that you're going to forget. Let it go and live. Just be. Yes, he's almost one. Breathe. He'll always be the baby. 

Had to

Had to buy them matching swim suits. Had to!

Simply the BEST

Summer beginnings...

Summer is upon us and we are out and about. Sidewalk chalk, pools, parks and picnics. We are trying to find our rhythm as Ignacio is out of school and we are all together all day again. Above is Emilio, my intense love bug making a picture on our way home from Ignacio's field day. 

Congrats to Ignacio on his kindergarten graduation! Already reading chapter books and growing a love for soccer. 

And then there is Santi, who has recently learned to open the garbage can. 

The boys had their first tubing experience. The water was freezing and their lips were blue for hours but they were happy. 

Here the three are swinging. Only one has learned to pump. Guess who. 

Santi went to the wading pool for the first time. He was all over this! He loved it. We love him!

TP

Let's just say Santiago has a fascination with toilet paper. If he happenes to see the bathroom door is open he makes a run for it... More like a crawl for it. He zooms straight for the toilet paper roll and begins unrolling it. That is, of course, if the toilet seat is down and he can't splash around for a few seconds before getting caught. I would have to say the bathroom is his official favorite room in the house.