Joshua has 1 year pics done...

Check out Joshua's one year old pics that I took a couple of days ago...enjoy! Click Here

Please pray for me...

Yep, please pray for me so that I can tend to my family as I should. I am struggling with a horrible allergic reaction to something that I ate on Friday night. I think I know what it was, but I'm not absolutely sure so I'm trying to avoid any weird, out of the ordinary foods for me. Anyway, I woke up Saturday morning with hives all over my torso, my legs and my neck. It's horribly painful and itchy. I'm taking Benadryl every 4 to 6 hours and am getting some relief from the itch, but it won't go away!! I'm also bathing in aveeno oatmeal baths twice a day to see if that helps. The first and only other time that I've had this type of reaction was shortly after finding out we were pregnant with Kateli, and since I was pregnant I couldn't take ANYTHING for it. This time it's different, I know that I'm not pregnant so I'm taking medicine to make it stop, but it won't subside. Please pray for me, that this would go away FAST as I cannot stand to be touched right now...so I can't hold the kids too much and I spend a lot of time in bed due to the benadryl knocking me out. Dan has been great, he's taken on watching the kids and taking care of me without complaining....what a great hubby! I'd post a pic of my torso, but it's just not appealing at all, it's HORRID!!

Joshua is ONE!

My little man is officially ONE today, as of 4:41pm this afternoon!! UNBELIEVABLE! WOW, I am still asking myself where his first year went...

We had an interesting day, to say the least, but did NOT go without celebrating our little guys birthday. It is tradition in our home to wake up the birthday honoree early in the morning with the "mañanitas". Grandparents call with their wishes and aunties, and uncles call as well making the birthday person feel even more special on their special day! We also sing the happy birthday song before blowing out the candle on his/her own chocolate cupcake. After that we open one gift, and then it's whatever comes at us the rest of the day!! This morning Joshua got up with a grin on his face, after the "what are you singing to me mommy?" look that I initially got. He enjoyed being the center of attention and loved hearing familiar voices over the phone! Let me tell you this little guy absolutely LOVED his cake!! He ate it ALL, no messing around with him. Here are some pictures of him enjoying his cake. I need to post some more of him getting his cake, and then opening his gifts. and then we had a little diversion for the rest of the day. Our little princess got up acting like she felt great, until we got a little concerned that she felt quite warm to the touch. Took her temp and found out she was running nearly 102 temp!! Immediately we got on the phone, and to sum it up we spent the rest of the day in the hospital. Kateli had low counts, low hemoglobin and low platelets counts. She had to have a blood transfusion, platelets transfusion, an antibiotic administered, and be admitted to the hospital for at least a one night stay. So, a year ago today we were in the hospital celebrating the arrival of our little guy. Today we were in the hospital concerned that our daughter gets to feeling better soon. God has his way of saying, "you have to remember what is important in life"...it's not a birthday celebration necessarily, it's remembering that we are a family and we stick together no matter the circumstances! Thank you Lord for being so wonderful and loving. Despite the circumstance, we praise Him for being a God who loves us and blesses us in ways that are beyond our measure and understanding.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LITTLE MAN! To read and see pics of Joshua's birth, please click here Joshua's birth

Happy self feeding

Joshua turns 1 in 2 days!! WOW!! I'm having a real hard time believing that my little baby is not so much a baby anymore!! It makes me a bit sad, yet excited at the same time because he is so much fun and it gets even better each day! Tonight we were out to dinner, and Joshua was eating relatively well, but lately he's gotten into the bad habit that he will spit out his food if he just doesn't want it. Instead of refusing it, he takes it, makes a face and pushes it back out with his tongue. Well, tonight as we were eating and I was feeding him he got a hold of a fork. He proceeded to grab it, properly I may add, and try to grab food from the plate that I was securing in front of him. As I watched, I thought I'll help him put something on the fork and then we'll see what he does!! What do you think he did?? Well, let me tell you. As I lead his little hand to stab a piece of chicken onto his for, he looked at me and grinned really big. Then he took that fork and directed it perfectly into his mouth, bit off the chicken and moved that fork back onto his plate!! Yep, he is self feeding--with just a tiny bit of help getting food onto his fork--but he's doing it alone and enjoying every second of his independence. Just another way to show that he's growing up TOO fast!! I love my little guy!

Complete sentences...

Well, maybe she's been using complete sentences for a while now, but this morning's stands out like a sore thumb. Kateli speaks so well, yet it seems that although she gets her point across pretty clearly most of her sentences are composed of a noun and a verb, no article. This morning, she woke up in our bed (of course, as most mornings lately) and turned over to me and said "mommy, what time is it?" just like that "mommy, what time is it?" COMPLETE or what?? Anyway, I thought I would write it down because it is really the first time I take note of this accomplishment!! She's going to be 3 in 3 months!! WOW!!!

Fun times at the fountains

We took the kids to play at the fountain on Riverside this weekend. They had a blast. Here are some pictures. Enjoy!

Walking and waving bye-bye...two more milestones

Joshua is 8 days shy from his first birthday!! He's going to be ONE!!! OH my gosh!! Where did his first year go, I wonder? Especially the last 6 months, have been quite a blur, but all in fun! Joshua is finally waving bye-bye, and with a huge smile on his little face. He is so excited that he can get his little fingers to bend back and forth, I think!! And, he's also walking!! Well, not walking on his own quite yet, but that will come soon enough. He's walking all over though, pushing his little walking toy and he loves it. He gets so excited, especially when he hears his cheering squad (Kateli and mommy) rooting him on!! I got some video of him...but it may take a little while to get it posted. We'll see if I can do it soon...for now, just close your eyes, imagine our little man walking away pushing his little toy and looking back waving bye bye to you with the BIGGEST smile you have ever seen....can you see him??