Mothers Day

Today, we took the train down to San Mateo where we had a wonderful picnic and played.  Dont let the happy pictures of the boys fool you.  I had to bribe them to get them to look at the camera and smile. 

_______ at __________

Arrow at 2 months:  You are smiling a lot and starting to coo.  But your coo is more of an "uuuu".  You are a great person to spend the day with because you still sleep a lot and are very easy.  We go on walks, sit around the house and cuddle and meet friends.  Today we went on the school bus with Tonio on a field trip and tomorrow we will meet Manuela for lunch.  You are fun and I just want to eat you up.  Its hard because I know these days will end so soon and I will not remember them.  I can barely remember when Tonio was your age.   I just know that I am the happiest in my life right now and I feel so lucky to have you Arrow. 

Tonio at 4 years, 8 months:  You are my sweet little boy.  Sometimes I just look at your face and I just kiss it all over.  Lets see- you are not the adventurous kid.  You didnt really swim in Mexico because you didnt want to sink and you dont want to learn to ride a two wheeler.  While in Mexico, your dad's brothers said he was very competitive as a kid and cheated a lot.  Maybe that is you.  I think you dont want to do things that you might not be good at right away.  On the other hand, you are very smart.  You learn things quickly like counting to 30 in Chinese, knowing where many countries are and math.  I like walking to school with you and Arrow in the morning.  I love holding your hand.  We also have our weekly dates at the cafe- it would be a lot nicer if your eyes did not glaze over when the tv was on but I will take what I can get. 

Miguel at 5 years, 8 months:  You will try anything.  You did the triathlon, you did a magic show at the talent show at your school on Saturday, you will do cannon balls, and you will try all sorts of new food.  I love that about you Miggy- your sense of adventure.  You have become really good at Spanish and getting better at reading.  You are amazingly sweet with little kids, especially with Arrow.  You are always giving Arrow hugs and kisses and today you helped me give him a bath.  In Mexico, the cooks had a little boy, Santiago age 2, and you played so sweetly with him, sharing toys and dancing with him.  Its funny because there was this pure sweetness that came out while with Tonio it is non-stop competition.  Arrow already beams when he sees you because you are so nice and loving to him.  I love it.  My beautiful boy. 

Mexico

Off to the Yucatan to celebrate PopPop's 70th birthday with the entire family.  We, our family, went three days earlier to enjoy some peace before the onslaught of family.  We stayed in a thatched roof cabana right on the beach in Tulum.  It was one room with a bed and a bunk bed with mosquito nets.  There was no electricity at night.  It was great to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean and to wake up to the beautiful sunrise.  For three days we just swam and hung out.  I could open the door to the cabana, sit on the step listening to Arrow sleep and watch the boys swim.  It was wonderful.  I think the greatest moment in my family life was that Sunday morning- Tonio and Miguel played with puzzles and drew on the floor while Brian and I lounged on the bed with Arrow between.  It was about 8 am and the sun was still rising and the sky was a beautiful silver and it was still cool.  The boys never play that quietly and well for that long.  It was wonderful.  Here is Miguel boogie boarding at the beach. 

We had some grouchy boys.  Tonio scratched his eye when Miguel threw sand at his eye.  His eye was stingy and watery and the sunglasses made the eye feel better.  Miguel and I both had huge bug bites. 

Night Swimming

Beach bums

The step of our cabana

At the house in a random Orange County like colony called Puerto Aventuras (of course) we stayed in a large villa that was more like a museum.  The owner collected- or took- artifacts from around the world and hung them up.  It was a little nerve racking with kids.  At the house, Brisa Cribe, we met the boys cousins.  The boys were instantly great friends. 

Back at our beach at Tulum after visiting the ruins. 

Terry telling zombie stories to Amos and Miguel

the Cenotes

Miguel was bit on the eyelid by a mosquito and it looked like he was socked in the eye. 

Uncle Dan holding Arrow

Brotherly love

"I liked you better when you were cleaning up spit"  The line from Rocky that Uncle Pie taught Miguel, here with his swollen eye. 

Our last days in Cancun. 

Miguel became our great swimmer.  Swimming across pools, diving to the bottom of the deep end to get toys, cannon balls - the works.  It was amazing to watch.  Tonio really did not like the pool but had no problem swimming in the waves at the beach. 

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Easter

This was a low key Easter.  We just did a simple Easter egg hunt at home, went to church and then to the park to play.  It was a beautiful warm day and the boys loved shoveling in as much candy as possible into their mouths.

7 weeks of Arrow

 Jess G, who is about 7 months pregnant asked if all babies were as zen as Arrow.  I thought so because Tonio was pretty good too.  Julie looked at us as if we were crazy.  She said no and that Arrow was an especially good baby. 

Arrow is a great baby.  He sleeps well, eats well and likes to cuddle.  Our days are consist of taking the boys to school and picking them up.  In the middle we like to go on walks are hang out at home.  We have also gone to many museums and adventures with the boys. 

At 7 weeks he likes to sleep 2-3 hours in the carrier on my chest, has a bedtime routine, and is beginning to smile and laugh.   Although I think its mainly still due to gas. 
You are a great buddy and I am loving being at home with you.

 6. 5 weeks

 5 weeks

 4 weeks 

 5 weeks

First river trip and breakfast at Howards

 

With auntie sue after a trip to Moma.

The Race is On

Yesterday, Miggy participated in his first race and it was a triathlon.  Watching him swim, I felt so overwhelmed by emotion and my eyes were watering.  This all while Arrow was in the carrier squiggling and Tonio trying to get cozy in his blanket. 

The race was at the College of San Mateo and freezing.  It was a sunny day but very windy and it was a cold wind.  We were unprepared for that.  Then there were the very intense parents- on set in our heat were Hawaii Iron Man finishers.  Dale, Lucci's dad, commented on how many Facebook and Google parents were probably there based on the super expensive bikes.  The first part was the swim.  Miguel swam the width of the pool twice.  He at times had to hold on to the lane marker, being his first time really swimming alone.  Then he biked about 1.5 miles and then ran .6 miles.  At the end with Tonio, Brian, Savita and family cheering Migs made it to the finish line.  He looked like he was about to puke but he did it.  I was so proud of the little guy.  The medal at the end made it all worth it.  I asked Savita if Lucci would like to try it about a month ago and she said he did not want to, and yesterday he said to Savita, "You didnt tell me there would be a medal".  Que bueno mi amor, Miguel!