I'm an auntie again - Welcome baby Raymond Guzman

My second family growing up was the Guzman family. Nathan was my age-mate and has been a great friend thru the years. I'm so happy for him and his wife Pim as they welcome their first born, Raymond. He is a sweet little guy and I look forward to meeting him sometime in the future. Thanks to facebook I am able to keep up with so many dear friends and share in their joys too.
Because I am delayed in publishing this post I thought that I'd include a fun collage of little Ray at 6 months old. Isn't he adorable?!

Michael & Lexi Travel Surprise

 My brother Anthony and his family had invited us to come to Georgia for the blessing of his second son, Parker. We were considering a car trip for the weekend so that we could be there for the event but then found that it would have to be a really quick turn-around after a long car ride. So we felt that at least Michael should go to represent our family and we bought him a direct flight. A few days before he flew out we decided it would be fun for Michael to take Lexi with him on this trip. She is under the age of two and so would be able to fly for a small fee. Michael called Anthony up and filled him in on the surprise of Lexi coming too. Anthony arranged for an extra car seat and picked them up at the Valdosta airport. When they arrived all were so happy to see them. I don't know who was more excited to see Lexi - Ethan because he now had a playmate for the weekend, Auntie Chelsea because she has two boys and loves her little girl time, or Grama D who got more cuddles that she'd been missing since traveling with us to Kenya last year...

 It was a joyous family occasion. I wish that Savannah and I could have gone as well but we are so grateful that Michael could participate and take lots of fun pics to share too.

 

This picture of my parents holding him is so precious. I can only imagine Parkers' expressions at the funny noises and faces that my Dad makes.

  Parker is such a cutie!  I love his cute little white suit that he wore for his blessing. And I love this picture of Chelsea with her little man too. Chelsea you look stunning as always and I love your proud and happy smile.

 Ethan and Lexi really had a great time playing together both inside and outside. Their favorite game was to chase each other.

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Lexi loved playing with Parker too!

The fun expressions of Ethan. I just love this little guy!

It was a great trip for Michael and Lexi. They bonded and Lexi has become more of a daddy's girl since the trip. There's not much sweeter than a Daddy wrapped around his little girls finger! I know it can be a problem later but for now we enjoy their cute bond.

Savannah goes under the knife

 

For as long as I can remember, Savannah has been a loud breather. She's been a snorer but not so loud that it disturbed us. We've just always accepted this about her. In the wake of my suffering from a horrible allergy season, I considered that perhaps Savannah too was suffering from allergies. So I took her to an Ear,Nose, and Throat doctor. She sat in the patient chair excited to be in a different place and meet a doctor that would not be giving her any shots. :-) As soon as Dr. Stierman had Savannah do the "Say Ahhhhh" examination of the inside of her throat she said "Aha" and then called me over to view too. Savannah had very enlarged tonsils. On a scale from 0 (normal as shown above) to 4+ (kissing tonsils), Savannah's tonsils were measuring a 3+. The poor girl was suffering from sleep apnea and airway blockage.

From that initial visit, we started her on an antihistamine to see if it would help to shrink her tonsil tissue. And then an x-ray was taken to view the size of her adenoids. After a few weeks of meds and no change we made arrangements to have Savannah undergo an tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy.

Here she is, the brave little girl on the morning of her surgery. She was so well behaved and so peaceful. Michael had given her a father's blessing the night before and then she and I prayed for her comfort before the doctor took her away. It was so hard for me to be brave and let the nurse wheel her away for the procedure. I had thought that I would be able to be with her when they sedated her but they assured me that my smiling little girl would be just fine and in recovery very soon. So I kissed her goodbye and told her I loved her. A short 30-40 mins went by and I was summoned to the recovery area. Savannah was waking up and so I was able to hold her and cuddle her until she fully awakened and had drank at least half a glass of juice. Her nurse complimented her on being such a good patient and so quiet. While holding her I heard several other patients waking up and crying out. I asked Savannah later why she didn't cry and she said cause we said a prayer and she knew her throat would feel better. Lucky for me she has such faith and is such a sweet girl. And lucky for us all that she has recovered well with little complaints or pain. Since the surgery I now have to go into her room and stand above her bed to see if she is breathing because I can't hear her from the door. It's been a little unnerving at times but we're slowly getting used to the new quiet breathing girl.

A stalled car adventure

I was driving real quickly to a doctor appointment during the girls nap time and took Michaels' car out. Just 25 ft from the office, the car stalled when I stopped at a stop sign. It was such an awkward experience because the hazard lights wouldn't work (due to a really dead battery and faulty spark plug thus electrical failure)  and I was stuck in an intersection. A few folks pulled over to offer to push the car out of the way but unfortunately it wouldn't shift into neutral so there was no going anywhere. Lucky for me, we are members of AAA! So a quick phone call and then the shortest tow ever to an auto garage just 50 ft down the road made everything a little better. Michael and the girls met up with me after they woke up from their naps and we were happy to find out later from the mechanic that the repair was not too costly.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

What's more fun than a scavenger hunt for gold foiled chocolate coins? Eating the chocolate coins of course!

Day trip to San Marcos

In the hopes of a little adventure and meeting up with Michelle Card, her little baby Gabriella, and Auntie Linda, we traveled south to San Marcos for a day trip. Randi has been having withdrawal (due to this restaurant not being in AZ) plus pregnancy cravings for a particular dish so we made sure to stop for lunch at a Johnny Carino's. It was very tasty and we really had a good time. I was super impressed that both of my children managed to eat their saucy+cheesy pizza without spilling or wiping anything on their clothes. To celebrate we ordered ice cream sundaes for them after lunch and like a magnet, ice cream and chocolate syrup was drawn to their cute clothes! Needless to say, they enjoyed every bite and I was happy that I had packed the backup clothes in the car. So unfortunately we weren't able to meet up with the others but we still had a great time and enjoyed our next stop which was to the Aquarena Center in San Marcos. There we checked out aquariums with animals native to this region and went on a glass-bottom boat ride. This was a cool concept. The boat had a glass viewing area that ran down the center and so passengers were able to look over the rail to see directly underneath the boat/into the water. Our animated guide shared a little history of the lake, details about the underwater springs, and pointed out several of the aquatic life. It was a 30min ride/presentation and for three toddlers that was just the right amount of time. They were done at 25 minutes but Randi and I still managed to distract and entertain the girls so that all enjoyed the ride.

 

 

Smiles at the end of the day

 

These girls LOVE each other so much. No matter the activity the three of them were usually all smiles.

Bathtime was so fun because the squeals and giggles of these three were so loud and infectious. We couldn't help but laugh too. And Brenna joined right in with Savannah and Lexi when Michael was reading bedtime stories via his iPad. I loved that each of the girls insisted on their turn to say bedtime prayers too. I wish that I would've recorded those sweet sincere little voices as they prayed. Next time I'm sneaking in a video camera or recording device of some sort because it is just so precious.