A New Years Update!

Well here I am, 4 and a half months pregnant again, and feeling, let's just say, better. My first trimester was very rough, mostly when I wasn't working, I was in bed and I had the flu 3 times and a nasty bronchitis that I am still getting over. But, I am preggo and for that we are so grateful!

Our holidays were wonderful! Marcelo's sister and brother in law and their 3 kids (5,8,11), and Marcelo's brother stayed with us for 2 weeks! It was sooooo great, beyond great to have them around. There was always a ton of cooking and delicious food happening and Levi loved being with his cousins and having constant play mates. Other highlights include:

- the guys rebuilt our fence in the back yard! That was the one repair our home was majorly in need of. The old fence was 30+ years old and literally falling apart and the new one is beautiful. And we saved a ton of money by DIY'ing it!

- cookie decorating and ginger bread house making with the kids

- renting a 12 person van and taking a day trip to Dinuba, CA to visit extended family.

- hosting several big dinners here

-taking several day trips with the whole family; Hollywood Blvd, Echo Park, Kids Space Museum, etc

-playing bingo and rummikub every night and laughing and listening to music

Well, see below for another very special suprise about the new baby!

New Baby Reveal Party!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!

Feeling so excited and so blessed!

Break down

So about 2 hours into our 5 hour drive to yosemite...the truck totally breaks down as we are driving on the freeway. We pull over and Marcelo looks under the hood...determines it is the alternator and proceeds to call Triple A. Meanwhile..the babys getting restless in the back so I let him stand up in his car seat amd he is facing the front. "An opportune time to chane his diaper!" I think, seeing how it could be akward to do so in the truck. As I get the dirty one off amd wipe him down, he proceeds to pee a ton all over his clothes and car seat! Oh man. So I get his wet clothes off and pull him closer to me at which time he takes a huge dump all over the blankets amd pillows, pees some more on me, and then proceeds to step in his poop before I can clean it up! Like omg. Just omg. I about lost it...and then I started cracking up at what a moment it was. So we got stuff cleaned up as much as possible. Fortunately...I had forgotten to pack his pants with our big bag so they were in an easily accessible place...but the rest of his clothes are roped.down under stuff in the truck. So luckily he has clean pants, a jacket, one sock and some shoes on as we wait to get the truck fixed. Also...the tow truck.driver was super.cool and took us to a place where they could work on it right away! So there is still Hope to make it to the redwood forest today!

Hiking

We borrowed a backpack from a friend and went on a practice trip ro a local trail! We are prepping for a 3 day trip to Yosemite this weekend! He liked the back pack a lot and Marcelo said it worked great for him too. Yay! The great local trail is Stough Canyon. Very pretty...we will definitely be back.

First hair cut!

It didnt exactly go as planned...lol...we ended up just shaving it all.short.after I accidentally took a couple.of. noticible patches off the side and front. But he looks sooooo cute! We had to do it while he slept..

Picnic

Marcelos brother Tito and his 14 y/o daughter arrived yesterday! Esme and Jin also came over. We enjoyed a picnic in our beautiful back yard. We are so blessed with a beautiful family and beautiful house!

Levi's first steps!